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 mother… and monthly support make it possible for Bible. and 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 get down physically, you can get down spiritually. And you’d 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 to him and he’d run for the rest of his life.

Hide under a juniper tree and says, 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. I don’t want to live. All these things that are mentioned in God’s Word. You ever hear 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. Well, 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 afraidLiquid have been 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?

Locusts? Looked 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 him with dignity and respect. I’ve lived long enough to see that there’s people that I will think, God 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 of hearts not there. You 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 hearting right. You do it to be seen of men. That can be hypocritical. It’s not because you love God or you love people. It’s sometimes 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. And you never know what point? What’s he going to take to key him off?

What little word before they explode? You ever heard of somebody named Martha? Mary Martha? Martha word about everything, didn’t you? Worry, worry, worry. I mean, God can’t use a worry wart. And yet there’s a lot of people with nothing more than just a worry wart. 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 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-we man and a we-we 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, Zacchaeus, 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 Zacchaeus. It didn’t matter who they were. When Christ was choosing his disciples, did He give everybody to you? 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. It’s 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. 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, fair, vehicle nose and thinking you’re like Cal-Auc’s cornflakes 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 use them. 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. But one day a lightning bolt struck and hit him, knocked him to his knees, and he says, Lord, what will God 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 your jackass 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 and put 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. See 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.

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, regardless of how many languages there are, love is better than all languages. And it says in verse 2, and though I have the gift of prophecy and I 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, 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-opor. If you could, in verse 3, and though I be still all my goods defeatable, if you could food, 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 in his eyes, and you’ll get out your checkbook and 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 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 some bit pull on 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 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 gonna have Christmas. Where’s the same the Bible everybody has to have Christmas? Every kid has to have a toy. Where’s the same that the Bible? Or what about those people that are hungry and everything’s given. 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 the greatest need? And their greatest need is to know God. It’s good that we could do the others. Don’t misunderstand me. 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 of those little child, they’re still going to die. They’re still going to 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 to people in other countries, but along with that aid 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 that I just like expressing them once in a while. Let me show this. In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, I want you to see the, the 8th thing that love does. Look what love does. And verse 4, charity is the word for love. Love suffereth long. It is kind. Love envyeth not. Love wanteth not itself is not puffed up.

Do not behave itself unseemly. Seek if not our own is not easily provoked. Thinketh no evil. Rejoice if not in in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Bear with all things, believe with all things, hope with all things, endure with all things. Love never fails. Now there’s eight things here 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 long. It means for a long time. It means you can put up with aATURES. It means you’reT-TEMPERED. It means you’re not explosive. Because, see, 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. We 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. The only difference between a person who gospels that 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. 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 us 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. looking for the dirt, always looking for trash, instead of the God uses all kinds of people.

And a lot of people will never rise up to our caliber, but we’re to love Him 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 to know, I love them. I didn’t mean I approve 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 it evane 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, God Christ came into the world to minister, to serve. 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 want to lead you as best as I know how in the right direction. I know that I have to have an example.

I’m 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 will receive the greater condemnation. It means that the 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.

And I want you to use me in whatever way that you want to use me. Love does not behave itself in an obscenely 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 missionaries are feeling a little leave up everything 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 4, God suffer of long is kind. God, envy if not. God doesn’t want himself. doesn’t want himself. 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. 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 as 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.

None of 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 is 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. He came into the world because God loves 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 says 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 I written unto 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’d trust Him, it’d 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. You said, preacher, 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. 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 kidding, kidding, 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 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, 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, 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. 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 to you a little bit about a subject that most of you in here probably think that you really know and understand. here probably is an expert on what love really is. If you don’t know what it is, just ask any teenager. 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 want to 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 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, to God’s love of 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, and 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, thou shalt 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, 6, and 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, or 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 able to be able to work 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 escrow grow? I want that mountain.

I want that mountain. The mountain that my Lord has given me. Eight years old. How old was Moses when God used Moses? Yet God did use Moses. Now remember Moses was a man that, well 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. Let God be true every man a liar. Look at the kind of people that God’s had to use down through the centuries. And sometimes you think, well, I’m just not worthy to be used by God.

I’m not much at all. Did 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 perdy. Maybe Leah was ugly. 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. More or a lot of crooked people back in those days. Aren’t you glad that that’s not like it today? We don’t have to have to have the 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, 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 to happen in this world with the Arab nations.

And 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 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 Marvel in order to build their temple. I think it’s exciting just to get up in the morning and 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, Dallamitey man of Gideon! He turned around ten 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. He said, 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.

I’ve 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 of looking 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 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.

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 it. God is love. Well, you know what love is, then you have to study about God. But you’ll learn more about God by seeing 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 done, 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, that God used her. Now, a widow 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, and it was real. She guided that little girl to tell her what to do and what not to do, and she did it. And on down the line, here comes a guy named David. And on 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 He cleared 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, David. But I think he messed up too. I think he was a womanizer. I actually believe that he probably committed murder. 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. And 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 it 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, there 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 got, and how unworthy we may be, and how lack of talent and ability and wisdom that we have, 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 Joe blossed all of his assets, when 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’d be surprised how many times God will afflict 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 not discouraged. In spite of all the great things that God did for him, he could let one woman say something the hymn and he’d run for the rest of his life. Hide under a jeerable tree and says, 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? He ran from God. I know Christians have been running from God most of their life. Oh, they’re saved. They haven’t turned 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 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 him with 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 of heart stuff there. Did you 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 hardly write. You do it to be seen of men. That can be hypocritical. It’s not because you love God or you love people. But sometimes 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.

And 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 she? 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 wart. 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 your 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. 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, Zacchaeus, 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 Zacchaeus. It didn’t matter who they were. When Christ was choosing his disciples, did He 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. There aren’t any. Neither are you. So just get the chips off your shoulders and stop exalting yourself yourself and stop looking down your long, fair, shieldful nose and thinking you’re like Kellogg’s cornflakes 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. But 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 it 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, so if God was going to destroy the city or not of Nineveh, And God used the gourd. It came up and put shade over him and he was so thankful for that gourd. God didn’t show 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 peopleasant 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 here 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 tingling.

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, regardless of how many languages there are, love is better than all languages. And he says in verse two, and though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faces, I can remove mountains and have not love.

I am nothing. So the ability to speak in languages, the 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 three, and though I bestow all my goods, defeatable, if you could feed, 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 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 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. 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 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 the sin of the Bible? Everybody has to have Christmas. Every kid has to have a toy. Where’s the sin 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 does the greatest need? their greatest need is to know God. It’s good that we can do the others. Don’t misunderstand me. 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 of those little child, You’ve got that.

They’re still going to die. They’re still going to die. What was their greatest need? We need somebody to really love them. 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 Dye-Link 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, just keep looking up.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, dear 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 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.

Second Timothy and chapter three. Second Timothy and chapter three. The Nicotine Bible tells us here, and though it was written, 2,000 years ago, says this know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disob edient to parents, unthankful, unholy. He goes on down and says a bunch of other things, but in verse 5, even a reference to religious people having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof From such turn away.

There’s many things in God’s Word that warns us about the human nature. It says in the book of Jeremiah that the heart of man is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked in who can know it. know it. I believe that if you got a chance to see some of the news and some of the things you heard about, you also can see just how low people can get very fast. It wasn’t long ago that I had preached to sermon, dealing with if we had a major catastrophe in America.

was a nuclear chemical biological warfare earthquake it doesn’t matter something that is beyond your power to control what would people do if there was no food in the grocery stores and no trucks were able to run no gas people can’t go to work and I know it seems like it’s a far-fetched You know, scenario. That’ll never happen. How quickly things can change. And I was talking a little bit about the days of Noah, the flood, where the Lord had told us that He looked down upon the sons of men, and He saw the wickedness, and He says, and it was great, that there was nothing that they would not try to do, anything they imagined to do, they did.

They have no restraints. Nothing holds them back. We have people like that today that have absolutely no morals whatsoever. There’s nothing to guide them. They are truly like sheep without shepherds. And Christ in a pre-menifestation of Christ in the Old Testament, when you see the words the angel of the Lord is always Christ. And the Lord says that He looked down upon the children of men and decided that He was just going to wipe them out. So He brought in the flood.

He saved Noah, misses Noah, three sons, their wives. And think of how many people may have been upon the earth, especially when they can live for a thousand years before the flood, a thousand years whole and had children how many people must have died. How can a God that creates the heavens and the earth not care what happens to people and the misery they have or the way that they die? Especially when we believe that there is an all-powerful God that can do whatever he wants to do.

Why does God and why did God allow all those people to die in a flood? And whenever you see the scenes that they’ve shown from New Orleans, all those people that were dying, bodies in the street, in the Colosseum, old folks, women wonder where their babies are. There was one woman was 105 years old in a wheelchair in Wheelingtown, high-10. And I was told that in one place in the hospital that they got all the patients out, but some of the doctors didn’t make it.

The doctors literally died doing what they were doing. There are some horror stories. And if there’s a God in heaven, how can God justify himself? Because I know in the mind, Because of people, we often become bitter at God, angry at God. And people were bitter and angry because they thought that whoever was in charge could have done something or cause a swifter response that more life could have been saved. But I do believe that could be a forerunner of something that’s really going to take place in our country.

And it could be that the Lord gave us a taste of what’s down the road and how that we might need to prepare in a better way. What if something really did happen that was really bad? The Bible says in the last days that there shall be earthquakes around the world, more severe. What if there was more earthquakes that sin in not just-just-30-foot waves, not just a high level of water. But what if they came in 100 feet high?

Well, one day when it happens and those people are destroyed, will it be because, well, somebody should have done something about that. Who in the world in their right mind would have built a city below sea level, knowing the possibilities, but not expecting it to happen and to have a lake that’s above you? That would be scary for me alone. I really didn’t know the seriousness of the situation until you start listening to what had taken place. It didn’t matter how many levies were closed and secure.

All you need is just one break, one break. I said, it didn’t matter how many areas in your life that you guard. If you had a fence and a hundred cattle in there and you had ten gates, but you left one gate open when you still lose the hole hurt to that one gate you left open. And it only takes one levy to break in order to do all the damage. And to think how quickly something can change, how quickly things can happen.

But see, it doesn’t always have to happen the way that you think or expect or when. Anything can happen at any time. And it could be major earthquakes or some nut get a hold of a bomb. The key thing regardless of any catastrophe, I believe that there is a God in heaven who is never taken by surprise. The question that many people ask, did God know that this was going to happen? Did God already know that this was going to happen?

Every bit of it. Did He know every person was going to every person. All the misery God knew it all. And why didn’t God stop it? They didn’t. And when it comes to people here in America, we want to know about God. God, when did you know about this? How much did you know? Well, why did you let it happen? Can you and I have more compassion for those people and what they’re going through than God. What about the God that has the power to do something about it, to have all this compassion?

Am I to have more than God? Interesting questions. Why didn’t God, if he has more loving compassion than what I do, why didn’t God stop it? Why did God let it happen? See, some people have questions but they don’t like to really ask them because they don’t have an answer and it scares them. Because see if we can’t find an answer to that, we won’t have the answer to anything that happens to us. Have you ever read the book of Job?

It wasn’t so much that it had to do with Job as it did with those people who were always trying to figure out why did it happen. And God used Job to be a catalyst in their life that teach them, they thought they had the answer to everything and they didn’t have the answer. They were Job’s good friends and they were wrong in their conclusions, every one of them. They really didn’t know what was behind the scenes. They didn’t know what had taken place between God and Satan and how that Job’s integrity was being challenged.

I didn’t see all of that. All they knew is Job must have done something wrong. Does the righteous sometimes pay with destruction. Just like the lost man. When a lost man goes outside and a Christian goes outside and it rains. Does it rain on both of them or just the lost man? When we live and they live, do they suffer problems and we don’t suffer problems? Or does the righteous suffer also? Is it possible that even doing the flood that they were righteous people that didn’t die because of the flood but could have died right before the flood, which I believe was the case with Matusla.

His name means when his dead judgment will come. And judgment came the year he died, even though he lived 969 years. God does allow at times righteous people to die to suffer the same horrible deaths that the wicked. Whenever God sent Jonah to Nineveh, what was the ultimatum? God said that he was going to destroy the city, the whole city, around 40-some thousand people. God’s going to just wipe them all out. If they did not do what was right.

And so he said Jonah, And Jonah says, God’s going to destroy this place unless they got right. And they all went down to the altar. They all got right. And God spared the city. Jonah still mad because he knew God was going to do that. He knew that God would have compassion upon him. Jonah didn’t want God to have compassion. God was going to have compassion and Jonah didn’t want God to. He wanted God to zap him. He was a Jew, they were Gentiles.

And they treated Gentiles like dogs. And God says, you’ve got more compassion over that worm that killed that gourd that keeps that heat off of you than you do those people down there. And it ends the story which won’t have been a bitter man, a bitter man in spite of all the people that was going to be destroyed weren’t. What about Sodom Gomorrah? when in Sodom and Gomorrah Abraham says, Lord if there’s 50 people there you won’t destroy it.

If there’s 50 righteous God says I won’t do it for 50. Oh what about 40? What about 30? What about 20? What about 10? God said I won’t destroy it for that many. That means that he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah with those people there if they were there before Abraham prayed. But he got a lot and his wife out of there. God brought judgment. Is this what’s going on? I don’t know. I’m not God. I don’t have all the answers.

But I do believe that God, if it’s in charge, knows what he’s doing. We may not understand why God picks and chooses like he does. I had two great friends. They both got cancer. One lived, one died. Explained it. I don’t. God has reasons that He hasn’t revealed to us. But I want you to take your Bible and turn there to the book of Matthew, the book of Matthew in chapter 2. I want you to look at something here to try to get some kind of a perspective.

Sometimes God will let his righteous die, but when they die, they go to be with him. So death concerning his saints is a precious thing. The death of his saints is a precious thing in the eyes of the Lord. Think about it. Death to a believer is a precious thing in God’s eyes. Because the only way you get there is you got to leave here. So death is not something that you and I are supposed to fear. But we do, don’t we?

Because we’ve never done it before. Here in Matthew chapter 2, all the scripture has prophesied for 1500 years to almost 2000, someplace about Jesus Christ, the Messiah, assium coming into the world and going to be born. and God even telling us where He would be born, how He would be born, the very year He would be born. So God knew all of this so nothing was a shock. Did God know that Herod was going to try to destroy his son?

Was God able to miraculously provide for his son yet? Why didn’t God just kill Herod? If that’s what Herod wanted to do, why didn’t God, you’re a little mad. There. But God didn’t. There’s some kind of rules in the game of life and death that we don’t really understand totally yet. And like there’s in football, we know the rules. We play basketball, there’s rules. Every sport, there’s rules. There’s rules concerning marriage, raising children. There’s guidelines. There are guidelines to life.

I believe God is laid down and Satan has to play by them. God has to play by them. But God made the rules. And there’s things God will do and think God will not do. There’s prayers that God will answer. There’s prayers God won’t. There’s things that God has a four-time agreed upon of what the rules are. Now I believe if there’s anybody who plays by the rules, it’s God. And he’s a righteous God. So there’s some things that God is able to do and some things he’s not because of rules.

I don’t know them all. He hasn’t revealed them all. God doesn’t have to. That’s part of the rules. He said the secret things belong unto the Lord, something God hasn’t revealed. something God has revealed. And it says here in verse 12, being warned of God in a dream. Get that, being warned of God. Isn’t it amazing that we have the technology today to have satellite systems that can warn us about, you know, hurricanes? And we can even track the hurricane and watch it on our TVs and see where it’s going to go.

Isn’t it amazing of what man has been able to accomplish? And we have warning warning systems that will help us. I believe there’s things in God’s word that God has warned us about. But he makes the statement, he’s been warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod. They departed into their own country another way. Why? Because God knew the future. God knew what was going to happen if they faced Herod. They knew Herod’s motive and that Herod wanted to kill that child.

So here’s this one child. Why was God willing to spare this one child and warn his mom and dad so they could take him to refuge a place of safety and God let all these other children and all the coast and all of Bethlehem God let all of them die. What if you were the parent of that child? That was your child that here at Kiel trying to find that one child. If you knew this, how would that make you feel about God?

He took your child and left another one, and all God had to do to stop all of that was kill that one guy that wanted to do it. God says that it is he that is able to shape the course of a river and the ways of a king. God raises up and God puts down. You see, there’s a lot more behind the scenes than what you and I will ever understand. But look what he says in verse 13, when they were departed, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, rise, take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt.

But what if Joseph had no faith? God, what if he hadn’t done it? Well it might be a different story altogether. We don’t know. He said, flee into Egypt and be thou there until I bring the Word. go down here and stay there until I tell you to move. He says, for Herod will seek. What are you going to do? Oh, he wants to worship him. Now that’s what Herod said. But God knew the real motive of Herod and God’s not taken by surprise.

Here he makes the statement, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. Did God know that in advance? Yeah. What What did he want him to do? Wanted them to leave. Yet God could have done something else. And then in verse 40, and when he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, departed into Egypt. Why did he have to believe by the way? Couldn’t God protect this child? And there’s some places where the Bible says, God did things a different way.

God will work different ways in your life. God knows what’s coming tomorrow. Let me ask you a question. What do you think we are told to just trust the Lord without all the explanations? See we say, I don’t mind trusting God if you just tell me what’s going on. Tell me what’s going on. God doesn’t tell us all the things that are going on. And the same catastrophe that is death to the righteous, which is a precious thing in the eyes of the Lord, can be judgment upon the wicked.

The Bible tells us in the last days, perilous time shall come and that God is going to send worse things upon the earth. And He says, there’s going to be and pestilence. Just like he knew this about his son and what one man wanted to, God already told us what’s coming. And he describes the tribulation period as the worst time the world has ever known. There’s never been a time like it. Because what’s coming he says there’s nothing like it has ever happened.

And there’s things that you’re going to face in life that you’re not going to have all the answers. But should you charge God foolishly just because you don’t understand why God allowed some things to happen. In this world, God is going to allow a lot of bad things to happen. And some of those bad things that will wipe out some wicked people is going to take out some good people right along with them. But for us, it will be a blessing we get to go to be with the Lord.

But for the wicked that wake up in hell. Good what he says here in in looking verse 15. He said, and was there until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of by the Lord of the Lord, by the prophets, saying out of Egypt, have I called my son? Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men was exceeding wrath and what I sent forth and slew, get to all the children that were in Bethlehem.

And in all the coast thereof, from two years old and under. Why would God let that happen when he could have just killed one man? God could have killed one man, but God let that man live and wipe out all the children two years old and under. All I know is it also eliminated anybody else from claiming the throne of Israel saying they had a right. At that age, God Christ was the only one. Everybody else, they were dead.

but I don’t know the reason. And then he makes this statement in verse 17, then was fulfilled, that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet. Saint in Reimadah there was a voice of her in the lamentation and weeping in great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted because they are not. In other words, all these women, God prophesied in the book of Jeremiah about all these women crying and weeping and mourning because their children are dead.

Did God know it was going to happen? And God allowed him to be slaughtered. Because you see Herod was stabbing at one baby. He was trying to kill one baby. But we believe that babies until they reach the age of a kind of being with the Lord. So they’re in heaven. And the one baby that was kept alive lived to die. Because that’s why he came. But not to have a premature death when he’s two years old. God appeared to him and warned him.

Look down in verse 22. But when he heard that Arcelias did reign in Judea and the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go hither. Notwithstanding been warned of God in a dream, warned again. Do you think God miraculously sometimes intervenes? Causes one person to think this and somebody else to think that and they make different decisions and they wind up in this place, that one in that place, this one is spared and that one is dead.

You and I will never understand this side of eternity. All the things that God has done. And why God has spared you or spared me from some little accident or wreck that we could have been dead by now. I don’t know. Why am I still alive? I haven’t got the clue. I live only by the grace of God and so do you. But I do believe that there’s a God in heaven that has more love and more compassion than you and I will ever have.

But I believe that it’s a test for us to do what we can do with what we have. But anyway, we live in a very scary time, really. just pretend if there is no trucks that can run and if there is no electricity and all of a sudden there’s no food and there’s no water. If you have no food, no water, how fast would it take our country to be thrown into a real serious national crisis? And what would you do?

How wicked would you get? The next North Day neighbors got food and water and you down. What would you do? You talk about watching people, the ugly side of individuals. Why do you think in the nation of Israel when God told them about they’re going to come and they’re going to put a siege around this city? And you’re going to eat your own children and your boil your own sons. Good people do an evil things. It’s amazing what we’ll do just to live.

We have a lot of reason to be thankful, but we need to be cautious. and we’re not going to have all the answers. And I believe it would be premature to judge too quickly. Where’s all the fault? There’s things in my life that I thought, well, if I’d have known that, if I’d have known that, well, I’d have known that. Of course you’d do something different, but you don’t know that. And there’s always somebody saying, well, you should have done.

Well, maybe you should have, but you didn’t know to do it. I believe that majority of people try to make the best decision they can at the moment. And it just don’t sometimes it’s not the right one that somebody else would have made or it’s the wrong one It doesn’t make a person wicked just because they lacked a little knowledge Not knowing sometimes exactly what to do Now you stop in thing To see the misery that you have in this life and then look further and deeper than that and see There’s something that’s even worse than all of this Is where are they gonna go spiritually?

spiritually? Do they have eternal life? Do they know the Lord? Were they prepared to die? See, that’s still the most important thing. But I know that Christians are supposed to care, and opposed to have compassion and try to help people. But also at the same time, what a wonderful time. I’d love to get a bunch of tracks, thousands of tracks, and just go there and just pass out tracks everywhere I can. Sometimes when people like this, they and listen, but they also need the other help.

Let’s pray, shall we? Our Father, once again, we thank You for Your love to us, that Jesus Christ came into this world wrong no one, and yet suffered cruelly at the hands of wicked people, religious people, and Father was mocked and shamed. father no doubt there’s a multitude of people that have been the astrodome and all these areas and father the shame that so many of them no doubt had to go through with no facilities, not taking baths, not being able to eat or to sleep properly and then watching loved ones die.

How horrible that is for so many people. And I would just pray that you’ll help those that are seeking to help others there. They help bring some comfort to ease some of their pain. We ask all dear blessings upon us to help us to do right, to do what we can. And we thank you 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. 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 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 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 muth- 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 concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

Everybody remember the 23rd song, the last part of it says, His goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Well, God’s gonna let things happen so that you are totally boxed in, don’t know what to do, so that you’ll cry out to God, and then God will deliver you, and you’ll see how good he is, how merciful God is, and you’ll praise the Lord for it. Now, if God does that for you, and you don’t praise the Lord, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.

You hear me say, over and over again, the Lord has done this for me, the Lord has done that for me. I am so thankful for the Lord, the Lord has been so good to me. God has been so good to me. in everything and every way. You know, every problem that we’ve had here as a church, I praise the Lord for. I’ve learned so much. I thought I had all the answers before. Then I found out, you don’t know anything.

The longer I live, sometimes I’m not sure I know anything. I just enjoy seeing God do things and teach. And God can do things that you have never dreamed of. So then in verse eight, Oh, that name would praise the Lord for His goodness for his wonderful works to the children of him. God says that was a good thing. What? He boxed you in, left you out there in the desert. You didn’t have anything to eat, you didn’t have anything to drink.

And you would just fill with distress. You didn’t know where he was going. And then they got totally at wits in. And they cried out to God and God delivered them. Isn’t God wonderful? Now you probably can’t wait till that happens to you. You probably can’t wait till you get it wits in when you don’t know what to do. Some of you might face it. You might, Fran, face it a little on the health problem. You never know. I might face it in a lot of ways.

You’ve got chores. But whatever it is, we’re to praise the Lord in the middle of it. Why do we always have to wait till we come to total wits in before we cry out to God? Can’t we praise the Lord first at the beginning? It’s kind of like this woman. She met this man at a church travel agents it was last resort. Anyway look in verse 9. Verse 9 I want you to notice the second thing is the wonderful thing about God is that there’s none to help.

At times there’s nobody to help. In verse 9 for He satisfied the longing soul. He filled up the hungry soul with what? Goodness. Such as sitting darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in afflictions and iron. So there’s people that’ll go through this. And there’s there’s slaves. There’s there’s all kinds of things that people don’t have light. They can’t see. They don’t understand. They don’t have the knowledge. And it says here in verse 11, because because they rebelled against the words of God and and contempt of the counsel of the Most High.

Now when you read the first chapter in Proverbs, it talks about how they they mocked the counseling of God. See the counseling of God is the word of God. People say, I don’t need to go to church. I don’t need to go to church. All right, so when you don’t need to go to church, means I don’t need the counseling of God. So that whenever your troubles come and they will, and because you didn’t have the counseling of God because I don’t need God telling me what they’re doing because the Bible says they would not listen to the counseling of God, God says that when their time comes, I will have them in duration.

And God says, he shall laugh at their troubles. I’m not making this up. But that’s what God says. So there’s people who rebel against God, rebel against the counsel of God. Even God’s children to do that. And when they do that, it says during verse 12, therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down. Notice the direction here. Down, down. And the other underlying this statement. There was what? None to help. In other words, there’ll be things that will happen.

in your light that nobody else can deliver you from. See God, the one that is so good, that does this. And that’s why sometime you find out nobody seems to have the answer for you. Nobody seems to be able to tell you exactly what you need to do. And counsel as they may, do you know the one of the greatest things we do? We are always so convinced that we’re wise. have you ever been in a place where, and I’ve done this, and I know you have, boy, if that had been me, that’s what I’d have done.

Boy, this is what I would have done. But they didn’t have to do it, and it wasn’t their call. But I can tell you what I would have done. Well, until you’re there, you’re not sure what you would have done. That’s that Monday morning quarter by. I’ll never throw it to that. Why didn’t you only any thought to the other God was opened down here in the end zone. Man, the God must be blind. As you said on TV with the instant replays and you’ve got a total vision of everything and there’s this guy down here having to make a split second decision and five guys are in his face trying to kill him.

And you want to go, well why didn’t he see that? Didn’t he see that? Well I can tell you what I would have done and there’s a lot of things in life where somebody else may seem like they have all the answers, but it’s not their call. It’s yours. And you’re going to find yourself at which end. You have finally come to the place where you don’t know what to do. And there’s nobody to help you. No individual. It’s got the answers.

So what does God say? In verse 13, when there was none to help, then they what cried unto who? The Lord in their trouble and he582 them out of their distress of why do you think God let him have all these troubles? Can you figure this out yet? Can you see where God’s going? Isn’t this a wonderful chapter on the issues of life? Because this is what this whole chapter is about. So he said there was none to help.

You’re at wits end, you stagger like a drunk man, you don’t have all the answers. So what do you do? You cry out unto God, He delivers you and lo and behold, God gets the honor once again, because you couldn’t give it to nobody else, so you didn’t have anybody to help. So you cried out to God and God did a wonderful thing for you and He showed mercy upon you. And because of the mercy, God’s good, boy God’s good, but there’s been times in your life when you haven’t found the right words.

Yes, God’s good to me. This time when you’re not sure if he is or not, because you know that God could have stopped this and he could have stopped that and I don’t see why he let this happen to me. I have a sermon that I’m working on right now. I haven’t got it down right, but I’m working on it. But what are the parts of it is this. Here’s Daniel. Daniel refused to obey the command not to pray.

He wouldn’t pray to his God anyway. And they took Daniel and they was going to throw him into the the the lion’s den. He’s in the lion’s den. Here comes a lion. Ah, teeth. And he’s right there. Freeze the film. Stop it right there. Freeze it in motion. And Daniel says, Lord, if you’re going to do something, now’s the time. There’s not much time left between me and his teeth. Whatever you’re going to do, help me speedily. But if not, have you ever been that close to death?

Have you ever faced it, that close? To knowing that, you know, this could be my last moment on earth. I’m fixing to be a meal for a hungry tiger or lion. And you know that at this moment, there’s nobody else can do anything for you. It’s just you and God and this lion and you can’t stop the lion and you have to totally depend upon God. Do I become a meal? Are you going to miraculously deliver me? Isn’t it wonderful?

Now would you like to be like Daniel? Has it been that bad for you yet? Has it got that close for you yet? Anyway, that’s just one illustration, but I got a bunch of them that I’m going to be using. But I think it’s the, I was thinking about that the other day. It sayselist the line connected and it starts freeze. And Lord, I need a word with you. I’m running out of time. Lord, help me speedily because it seems like the Lord just seems like he waits and waits and waits like he’s not in a hurry to get.

anything done. And we become so impatient, but if we’re learned to just wait upon the Lord. So anyway, he says here, all that men in verse 15 would praise the Lord for his goodness and for the wonderful works for the children of men. See, God says that was a good thing that he did. What? Letting you be in irons, let you be in darkness, letting you be in your troubles. Why? So that you would find there’s nobody to help you, but God, and therefore when you’d call out to God, that’s what God wanted in the first place.

So God uses these wonderful things. The third thing I want you to see is that there are fools. There are fools, and you may be one at different times in your life. You see, we want to be all spiritually mature, all truly Godly individuals, always making the right decision. But there’s times in our life when we actually are just plain foolish. We play the fool. We do foolish, stupid, idiotic things. And there’s consequences to it. There’s prices to pay.

But now look what he says here in verse 16, for he had broken the gates of brass, cut the bars of iron and sundur, and get verse 17, fools, because of their transgression and because of their iniquity are afflicted. Now, not everybody gets the same benefits of everything. It’s that God may do something with one that he doesn’t do with somebody else, but in all of it, it WRITESNormally627, so that men may see the mercy of God and praise God for his goodness.

You see, God not letting us go to hell by saving us by grace. We received the mercy of God. We didn’t get what we deserve. Boy, isn’t God good? Now, when somebody asks you, do you believe that God’s a good God? Yes, God is a good God. God is a good God. God is so good. God is so good. I love that song. I really do. I love that little course. But look what he says here. And because of their Iniquities are afflicted.

Now some are afflicted because of the sins that they actually commit and they bring it upon themselves. And some people are going to go to an early grave because God is going to have to chase them, maybe take them home before their time. And it says in verse 18, And their soul of ho of all men are of meat and they draw near unto the gates of death. Now where God can bring a man right to the door of death.

people who could care less about God. Until they’re in the hospital. And then they come in and see this one guy. He had trust the Lord. And I walked into the room and he was sick. So I came in and said, what can I do for you? He said, I’ll pray for me. I appreciate you just pray for me. I said, what do you want me to pray for? He said, pray that I can get Well, I says, why?

Thought I was kind of dumb. I said, I’m serious. Why do you want to get well? He says, could I already sick? I said, no, I want to know the reason. Why do you want to get well? I said, if God was to get you well, would you want to serve the Lord because of the goodness of God? He said, I don’t want to talk about that. I said, I’m sorry, sir. I don’t want to pray for you either.

And I walked out of the door. You said, you shouldn’t do that. Yes, I did. Why should I want that man to get well? So he can continue living, I know what was going on, just keep on doing it, no, no, no. I want God to deflect that man. I want God to get that man because I want that man to serve God. You use people’s problems to get them right with God. If I can’t get you right with God, I can’t do much for your problems because God brings those problems.

I’m not for patting the sale for the man that’s going into the prison. Anyway, look what he says here. He makes a statement there now in verse 19. Then they what? Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble. You mean somebody who deliberately, willfully, sins against God? Yeah. God will even have mercy on them. Why? So that they will learn that God is good. See, God wants everybody to know He’s a good God. God lets everybody have problems.

God knows that every man needs direction. in these directions and God knows that every man is going to have it timed in his life, where nobody can help him. Nobody has the answers for you. And God said, I want you to cry out to me and I want to be merciful to you. And I want you to be able to praise my goodness. Now look what he says here. He verse 20, he says, part of verse 19, this is a good statement.

He saved them out of their distresses. You see, every one of them had different distresses, different problems. Everyone was different. But the same results is that men that would learn to praise God for His goodness. So, are you facing anything? Are you scared of something? Then learned that God is good and that God wants you to learn how to praise Him. And you don’t have to wait until it’s too late. You don’t have to wait until that lion is right there.

When you can see something coming, or it’s good to learn to praise the Lord all the time. Always live, praise the Lord for His goodness because God is good to us every day all the You see, you need to realize God is good to me because of things he hasn’t allowed to happen to me. All the things could have happened to us that didn’t happen to us that we may not even know about, but God’s still good. Now look what he said.

In verse 22, excuse me, verse 20, he sent his word, heal them, deliver them from their destruction. You see, God will heal anybody. God will deliver anybody. It doesn’t matter how bad they are are because it just shows how good God is. I actually think there’s some people who are, they don’t want God to be good to somebody. I want God to be good to everybody. And then he says here in verse 22, let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing.

Declare his works with rejoicing. In other words, should a Christian be a happy person or always done in the dumps, always whining and moaning and complaining about something. Note but to learn to rejoice. Now verse 23 down to here, this is a picture I believe of Seaman, sailors, but it’s also to be used as an illustration to show the turmoil of the soul of man. In verse 23 he said, then they go down to the sea in ships and do business in great waters.

In other words, by the time they get through they’re going to come to wits in. And people that are in a boat in this rocking back and forth because of the waves is like a drunk man who staggers back and forth. So whether you’re in a ship or you’re drunk or you’re just in your soul, you’re in such turmoil and it keeps churning inside of you. Get what he says here. Verse 24, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep, for he commanded and raises the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves thereof.”

Get who does this? It’s God that commanded and raises the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves thereof. The Lord does. Did you know whenever the Lord told his disciples, get into the boat on the Sea of Galilee and go to the other side, they simply was obeying the voice of Jesus Christ. They got into the ship and they started to the other side and anybody know what happened on their way. You see it’s about 6 miles wide and about 14 miles long and they got right in the middle and the biggest storm came up.

Why did Jesus tell them to go right into the midst of a storm? You see we believe well if God is leading then God will protect you and everything will be wonderful and be blessed and it’ll be peace and calm. Sometimes God will lead you right in the middle of a storm. Right in a storm and then there will be people say well you know if you would just fall on the Lord you wouldn’t have all this happen to you.

Then they don’t know the Bible do they? And you are going to face the storms of life and the winds going to blow, the waves are going to come and you may find yourself sometimes like like a drunk man come to wits in. You don’t know what’s going to happen. When it says, they sing the wonderful works of God and the debts. And if God doesn’t deliver them, they will really see the debts. They’ll be going down there getting a good view of it.

See there? In verse 26, they mount up to the heaven. They go down again to the debts up and down. Then he says, their soul is melted because of what’s that word. Rubble. Do you think God knows that there’s troubles in this world? What do you think is sometimes, man, all I have is trouble. I go from one thing to the other. It just don’t seem fair. It ain’t fair. Everything happens to me, nothing happens to anybody else. Everything’s happening to everybody.

Everybody’s going through some rough time, maybe just different times in their life. Maybe different degrees of it. But maybe God believes that you’ve got a lot of faith and you need a bigger problem, the challenge is. the challenges. Sometimes in a Christian school, and we did this out there, we would give out Christian character awards. The little kid in the classroom that was a perfect little darling, he got Christian character award. Well, he might have just been playing compliant.

They could have had him on some kind of riddling where the kid was just a dope, but he didn’t give the teacher any problem so the teacher, oh this kid’s got character. Well maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t. There could be another little boy in that same class. He comes from a home where his mom and dad fight all the time and they beat him half the death and then he still goes to school and he fights and he struggles and everything goes wrong and his kid pick on him and he tries to maintain a good attitude and he decks a few of months in a while, but overall the kids struggling, that kid probably got more character than that other one that’s on that Ritalin.

You get my point? You see, just because you don’t cause any trouble, you never bother anybody. Well maybe you’re dead. But somebody is alive and maybe they cause trouble what’s in a while. That doesn’t make them a bad person. They may be facing things that you and I know nothing about. And they’re struggling and it’s harder for them because they’re trying to walk and they don’t have the leadership or the guidance and I believe this. I came from a home like that.

Ray Stanford came from a home where his dad was a drunkard and left his mom. Well, my mom left my dad. And there’s a lot of kids who’ve had the struggle through life. And then there’s other ones that, you know, they were born in a good Christian home. Everything was wonderful. They took them to church, taught them all the right things and they just stayed out of trouble. That doesn’t mean they got better character. They didn’t have the struggles to go through that somebody else might have gone through.

You see, there’s a God in heaven that knows what each person needs and what each person is going to get and God is moving. And to believe that, to believe that God loves you so much that He’s given you personalized attention. So anyway, he says now in verse 27, they reel to and fro, stagger like a drunken man and you are the underlying these words at their wits in. And every one of these, they always come to their which in.

And because of it, in verse 28, then they do what? Cry unto the Lord in their what? End to trouble. Every one of these is similar, and yet they’re all different. Because see, while one person is over here looking for direction, somebody else may be over here saying, I don’t have anybody to help me. Somebody else may be facing another problem. Somebody else facing another problem. It’s just because they’re not facing the problem You have them when they don’t never have anything happen to them.

Youosition them to what’s going on in people’s lives. But everybody’s hurting and there’s trouble in everybody’s life. The Bible says, as a man is born, the sparks fly upward. Troubles, troubles, trouble, we have them from the day we’re born to the day we lead this world, you’re going to have troubles. Anybody got any troubles now? Be patient. They’ll come in tomorrow. That’s one thing I can promise you. Troubles are on the way. In other words, kind of like this, God has an arrow.

this arrow is named trouble and God is shooting this arrow towards you and based upon how far you are away from the Lord might defend upon how long it takes that arrow to get to you but it’s coming it’s on its way so in the meantime before that trouble gets here you better get into book start learning how to solve some of your troubles that’s the reason for studying the word of God so you can have the strength that when your troubles come you know I can depend upon the Lord I can look to Him and they’ll give you the peace and the calm that Maybe somebody else doesn’t have but you can have it.

It’s the peace of God. So now look in verse 29 And you ought to underline this verse This is what God can do and the reason that God does it and why he can let your soul be in such turmoil When it seems like instead of I’ve got peace like a river You’ll be singing I’ve got war like Vietnam in my soul And then he says, he make up the storm acom so that the waves there are of our steel.

Then are they glad because they’re quiet? You see, sometimes it’s good to have a good headache because when it stops hurting, don’t that feel good? You never knew how good it felt until God let you have a headache so that whenever it stopped hurting, you know how good it felt not to have a headache. Some of y’all never have experienced things like this. Like, I take a little Milton Haley, he just thumb one day and he says, man, Man, I got glad I got a thumb that can hurt.

It’s helping me, you know, don’t have thumbs. Boy, I got it. He screamed it one day. Yeah, he always had a good little spiritual lesson that he had to learn. But get this. In verse 30, then are they glad because they be quiet? So he bring it then onto their… And you ought to underline these two words. See, God knows where he’s trying to bring you, but God also know the desires of every individual. Does God know what you want?

Does God know that you want to have peace and quiet in your life, that you want to be blessed, and that you have in your mind a desired haven, a place that you like to reach? Have you ever thought about just stopping where you are? Do you think you’ve done gone far enough for the Lord, that you don’t need to get any further, and that your spirituality is already maxed out, you’re at your peak, you couldn’t improve if you tried, or do you think that you still may have a little ways to go yet?

That God may still have a little trimming to do. Maybe he needs to bring a few other things in your life because maybe God’s not satisfied with us yet. There’s a lot of things we need to learn. So what are we going to do when it’s all over with verse 31. Old that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, for his wonderful works to the children of men. Do you get kind of a little idea of how God may work in your life?

All right, now look over there in verse 38. He blessed them also so that they are multiplied greatly and suffer not their cattle to decrease. Again they are minished and brought loath through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. He poured contempt upon princes and caused them to wonder in the wilderness where there is no way. Yet said it, he the poor on high from affliction, make it his, him families like a flock. The righteous shall see it and rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.

Whosoever is wise, Now get this, this whole verse you ought to underland. Whoso is wise and will observe these things. Now this is the difference between you that maybe are here tonight, that you may see and understand and learn something that those who don’t know these scriptures, they won’t never understand. They’ll never get it because they’re not totally just understood without the teaching of the Word of God. But get what he says in the last part of the verse.

Even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. You will learn lessons that others will not learn. They’ll have the same problems, but they won’t learn from the problem. But if you understand what God’s is teaching here, you’ll see something and understand something about the wonderful goodness of God, his mercy, and the loving kindness of God. I think it’s awesome. 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, calvaryoftampa.org. Thanks for your time and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen, the trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

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

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the Internet. Your regular prayers and m- and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us He’s 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.

Here in the book of Psalms and chapter 107, it breaks it down into various sections when it talks about like in verse eight, looking verse eight. Psalms 107 verse eight. It says, Oh, that man would praise the Lord, and you ought to underline these three words for his goodness. If you do not believe that God is good, you’re not gonna praise the Lord. You must believe that God is, and that God is good. And like sometimes people say, well, how are you doing?

Well, God’s been pretty good to me today. Was he good to you yesterday? God is always good. That is the nature of God. God is a good God. So if God is good, and I’m his child and he says he will not withhold any good thing from those who love him and walk uprightly, so then this must be a good day. Every day is a good day. A good day to live. And there’s a few other things that I want you to see in these verses, look there in verse 27.

Psalms 107 and verse 27, they real to infrow, stagger like a drunken man and are at and you ought to underline these words at their wits in. Have you ever been at your wits in? Whit, it means the wit of a man, the thinking power of the man, the reasoning of man, the logic of man. Sometimes we think we’ve got the answers to everything, but it says that, and I believe that it’s true, that if you have not been at which end, you will just stick around life long enough and you will be at which end.

What it means is you will stagger like a drunk man. Talk about it in your faith, that you’re not going to know what God wants to do with you And so therefore you won’t know what to do with yourself and you will be at which end. In other words, you’ve been blindsided. You, you don’t know what to do. You don’t have the answers. And one of the greatest places in all the world for a Christian to come to is that is which in faith is born in despair.

Faith is born in despair. As long as you see humanly possible a way of manipulating things or doing something, well, then you don’t need much faith in God. True faith in God is when it appears that God has failed you or let you down, that there is nothing else. And right at the last minute when you think it can’t get any worse and you know what to do, that’s been it which’s in. And sometimes you may look like a drunk man who staggers, hither and dither, because you you’re not sure of your steps.

And I have been at which in a number of times in my Christian life, I’ve never been drunk, but I have walked like a drunk man, meaning my faith back and forth not sure. And so we all will stagger just a little bit. But I want you to look there in verse 15. says in verse 15, all that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, for his wonderful works to the children of men. All that men would praise the Lord.

Look what he says there in verse 21, all that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Seems like a repeat of what we just read. Well, it is a repent as a reason for it. Now I’ll show you. But look what he says there in verse 31. All that man would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Every one of these breaks down a different portion of scripture.

That has a different teaching. So there’s four different things that I want you to look at in these verses. But before we do, I want you to look there in verse 33. 33 through 35. Tremendous verses. Just understand that what God has the power to do that God may do. And he can do it with anyone at any time, whether you’re obeying or disobeying. It doesn’t know us in explanation. But this is what God has to do with God.

the power to do in verse 33. He turned the rivers into a, what’s that word? Wilderness, turns a river into a wilderness. Alright? And the water springs into dry ground. In other words God can take that which seems to be flourishing, a lot of water and make it like a desert. And God can take a desert and a well us dry and make it flourish. So God can do whichever he wants. God has that power. Look what he says in verse 34, a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.

He turned up the wilderness into a standing water and dry ground into water springs so he can reverse it. At any given time, this is what God can do. In our eyes, sometimes it appears that God is not doing anything. But I assure you, God is not taking a vacation. That God is intricately involved in the daily affairs of every individual. And God knows what to bring into our life and what to take out. And whether not to let it flourish or to let it dry up, God can do all things.

Now what I want you to see, because the four statements that are mentioned about all that men would praise the Lord and see the goodness of God. But if you don’t see the goodness of God, you become bitter at God. Because you know and I know that if God is so great and powerful that God could have changed things. God could have let things be different. When you read the Old Testament, the Bible talked about many times how that God moved upon the people and created within them the spirit or the desire to do certain things, to do the work of the Lord, to give.

God did all of that. And God motivated people. And then there’s time when it seemed like nobody cares or wants to do anything. God has a reason and God is alive and God is moving. So look there in verse 1, we’ll give thanks unto the Lord for He is good for His mercy in doeth forever. If you did not know that God was merciful, you probably wouldn’t believe that God is good because generally you do not cry out for mercy until you have been plagued with adversity.

So the adversities of life cause you to cry out to God and to have mercy upon you and change the situation. And when God changes the situation where God’s good. Boy, God is good. But God is always good. And He can change the situation. And He can change it any way He wants. I get thrilled, wondering how God is going to do certain things. Even with the church, with me, with you. It’s an exciting adventure in faith. Look in verse 2.

Now this first part of the verse, you should underline it if you have not done so. So let they redeemed of the Lord. Say so. Are you redeemed? Yes, say so. I am redeemed. I am redeemed. What does it mean to be redeemed? Means I have been bought off the slave market of sin. I was a slave, I was up for sale and nobody could pay the price. I was condemned had no hope and lo and behold Jesus Christ came and was my Redeemer.

He redeemed me. He bought me I had been redeemed not with silver and gold But with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. I’m redeemed Well, if I’m redeemed not going to be talking about myself. I already have been redeemed now one day He’ll redeem my body. We’re waiting for the day of redemption. Yes, but I have been redeemed So I can sing, I have been redeemed. That’s a good song. And then he says here, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy, gathered them out of the land from the east, from the west, from the north and from the south.

Number one, the first thing I want you to see is that… When you look at people, whether in the church, out of the church, every individual needs direction. Because the Bible says that all we like sheep have gone astray. After you trust the Lord, you’re just now still a sheep, but you’re in a different fold. You’re in his fold. You’re one of his flop, still a sheep. And is it possible that you as a child of God can still go astray?

Well, yes, many of God’s people go astray. It can happen to anybody at any given time. And sometimes going astray means they didn’t know they were going astray. Now, to be rebellious means it’s a direct choice of the will, where you choose knowingly that it’s wrong and you do it anywayancel. And we have people that will do that. But whatever, looking for sport, they wandered into wilderness in a solitary way. they found no city to dwell in. I mean whenever they were taken out of Egypt and across the Red Sea into that wilderness, yes.

There was no cities there, no hotels, no place to sleep at night except out there on the ground. And the Bible says they found no city to dwell at hungry, yet they got hungry, thirsty, they got thirsty. They’re so fainted in them. In other words, they became so despaired, so afflicted and you’ll wonder sometime about the heat, the crowd, the food, the water. How would you like to have upon you the responsibility of speeding 200 say two and a half million people every day and then finding them water.

It’s a staggering thing that demanded a man that truly trusts the Lord and yet here in In our lifetime, say, we don’t have to worry about two and a half million people. All we got to do is just keep yourself straight. We have trouble keeping ourselves right between us and the Lord. Not counting anybody else, just you stay right and you wonder all the time. Then it says in verse six, what does it say in verse six? People that need direction, did they need direction?

Yes, they did. Then they cried. You ought to underline verse six. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. And what did he do? He delivered them out of their distresses. So they redeemed of the Lord should say so. People need direction. I need direction. So do you. But one of the ways in which to give us direction is to convince us that we don’t know where we’re going, that we don’t know the way. So that’s why I preached a sermon one time about the 14th chapter of the book of Exodus, where it was talking about how that they were led into dead ends, detours, and draw holes.

And by the way, remember that sermon? It’s been about 10 years ago. Dead ends, draw holes, and detours. So here you are as a child of God. And whenever he took, that Moses took the children of Israel led by God. Well, if God was leading Moses and Moses following God and the people following Moses, why did he lead him into a dead end? Didn’t God know that there was a Red Sea they couldn’t cross? Didn’t he know that Pharaoh and his army were going to be coming up behind him?

Didn’t God know that? Yeah, God knew that and led him into a dead end anyway. Did God have a purpose? Yes, he did. One of the greatest events of all time in the Old Testament was when God parted the waters and they walked across on dry ground. Just think about it. The Bible said they went across on dry ground, means that it was kicking up dust as they went. It was dry. Went across on a riverbed to see that and it was dry, dry.

And the water upon the sides, the Bible says, like jail. It was jail. It was just standing there. God did that. they would have never seen that if they had never followed Moses and Moses followed God and they came into a dead end. So there’s times in our Christian life where God will lead us to a dead end. And then whenever we do we’re looking verse 6 again, then they cried unto the Lord and these three words in their what?

Most people don’t cry out to God until they are always in their troubles and their troubles and what does he do he delivered them out of their distresses that’s the mercy of God this is how God convinces you he’s a good God otherwise how do you know God’s good how do you know God’s a good God what has he done for you lately so the Bible says that when we need direction God will fix it the word you lose your way you don’t know what you’re You don’t know what’s next and God says they cry out to God and then God delivers and delivers you from your Distresses and then the Bible says we are to praise the Lord for his Goodness.

And throughout this you have the explanation of what he means up there in verse one when it says for he is good and is mercy. Goodness and his mercy. Everybody remember the 23rd song, the last part of it says his goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Will God’s gonna let things happen so that you are totally boxed in. Don’t know what to do so that you’ll cry out to God and then God will deliver you and you’ll never be able to do it.

see how good he is, how merciful God is, and you’ll praise the Lord for it. Now God does that for you and you don’t praise the Lord, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. You hear me say over and over again, the Lord has done this for me, the Lord has done that for me. I am so thankful for the Lord, the Lord has been so good to me. God has been so good to me and everything and every way, you know, every problem that we’ve had here as a church, I praise the Lord for.

I’ve learned so much. I thought I had all the answers before. Then I found out you don’t know anything. The longer I live, sometimes I’m not sure I know anything. I just enjoy seeing God do things and teach. And God can do things that you have never dreamed of. So then in verse 8, old that man would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of him. God says, that was a good thing.

What? He boxed you in, left you out there in the desert. You didn’t have anything to eat. You didn’t have anything to drink. And you would just fill with distress. You didn’t know where you was going. And then they got totally at wits in. And they cried out to God and God delivered them. Isn’t God wonderful? Now you probably can’t wait till that happens to you. You probably can’t wait till you get at wits in when you don’t know what to do.

Some of you might face, you might. Fran, face a little on the health problem. You never know. Well, I might face it in a lot of ways. You’ve got chores. But whatever it is, we’re to praise the Lord in the middle of it. Why do we always have to wait till we come to total wits in before we cry out to God? Can’t we praise the Lord first at the beginning? It’s kind of like this woman. She met this man at a travel agency.

It was last resort. Oh, anyway, look in verse 9. Verse 9, I want you to notice the second thing is the wonderful thing about God is that there’s none to help. At times there’s nobody to help. And verse 9, for he satisfied the longing soul. He fill up the hungry soul with what? Goodness, such as sitting darkness and in the shadow of death being bound in afflictions and iron. So there’s people that will go through this and there’s there’s slaves there’s all kind of things that people don’t have light they can’t see they don’t understand they don’t have the knowledge and he says here in verse 11 because because they rebelled against the words of God and contented the counsel of the Most High now when you read the first chapter in Proverbs it talks about how that they they mocked the counseling of God.

See the counseling of God is the word of God. People say, I don’t need to go to church. I don’t need to go to church. Alright, so when you don’t need to go to church means I don’t need the counseling of God. So that whenever your troubles come and they will. And because you didn’t have the counseling of God because I don’t need God. Tell me what they do because the Bible says they would not listen to the counseling of God.

God says that when their time comes, I will have them in duration. And God says he shall laugh at their troubles. I’m not making this up, but that’s what God says. So there’s people who rebel against God, rebel against the counseling of God. Even God’s children to do that. And when they do that, it says during verse 12, therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down. Notice the direction here? Down, down. And the other underlying this statement.

was what? None to help. In other words, there will be things that will happen in your life that nobody else can deliver you from. See God, the one that is so good that does this. And that’s why sometimes you find out nobody seems to have the answer for you. Nobody seems to be able to tell you exactly what you need to do. And counsel as they may, do you know one of the greatest things we do, we are always so convinced that we’re wise.

Have you ever been in a place where, and I’ve done this and I know you have, boy, I tell you, if that had been me, that’s what I’d have done. Boy, this is what I would have done. Alright. We’ll show you that. So, we’ll do that. I’ll do that. Okay. All right. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Now, I’ll try to make sure it’s that way. And I’ll go ahead and do it. Okay. All right. Okay. I’ll take a look at that.

And I’ll do it. Okay. I’ll do it. Okay. Okay. All right. All right. All right. But they didn’t have to do it, and it wasn’t their call. But I can tell you what I would have done. Well, until you’re there, you’re not sure what you would have done. That’s that Monday morning quarterback. I’ll never throw it to that. Why don’t all any thought to the other guy that was open down there in the end zone? Man, the guy must be blind.

As you said on TV with the instant replays and you’ve got a total vision of everything, and there’s this guy down here having to make a split second decision and five guys are in his face trying to kill him. And you want to go, why didn’t he see that? Didn’t he see that? Well, I can tell you what I would have done. And there’s a lot of things in life where somebody else may seem like they have all the answers, but it’s not their call.

It’s yours and you’re gonna find yourself at which end. You have finally come to the place where you don’t know what to do and there’s nobody to help you. No individualist got the answers. So what does God say? In verse 13, when there was none to help, then they what cried unto who? The Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distress. Well, why do you think God let them have all these troubles? Can you figure this out yet?

Can you see where God’s going? Isn’t this a wonderful chapter on the issues of life? because this is what this whole chapter is about. So he said, there was none to help. You’re at wits end, you stagger like a drunk man. You don’t have all the answers. So what do you do? You cry out unto God, he delivers you and lo and behold, God gets the honor once again because you couldn’t give it to nobody else. He didn’t have anybody to help.

So you cried out to God and God did a wonderful thing for you and he showed mercy upon you. And because of the mercy, God’s good, boy God’s good. But if there’s been times in your life when you haven’t found the right words, yes, God’s good to me. This time when you’re not sure if he is or not, because you know that God could have stopped this and he could have stopped that. And I don’t see why he let this happen to me.

I have a sermon that I’m working on right now. I haven’t got it down right. But I’m working on it. But one of the parts of it is this, Here’s Daniel. Daniel refused to obey the command not to pray. He wouldn’t pray to his God anyway. And they took Daniel and they was gonna throw him into the lion’s den. He’s in the lion’s den. Here comes a lion. Ah, teeth. And he’s right there. Freeze the film. Stop it right there.

Freeze it in motion. And Daniel says, Lord, if you’re going to do something, now’s the time. There’s not much time left between me and his teeth. Whatever you’re going to do, help me speedily. But if not, have you ever been that close to death? Have you ever faced it that close to knowing that, you know, this could be my last moment on earth. I’m fixing to be a meal for a hungry tiger or lion. And you know that at this moment, there’s nobody else can do anything for you.

It’s just you and God and this lion. And you can’t stop the lion. And you have to totally depend upon God. Do I become a meal? you and I miraculously deliver me. This isn’t wonderful. Now, would you like to be like Daniel? Has it been that bad for you yet? Has it got that close for you yet?

Anyway, that’s just one illustration, but I got a bunch of them that I’m going to be using. But I think it’s the, I was thinking about that the other day, it says, here is the lion connected and starts freezing. And Lord, I need a word with you. I’m running that a time. Lord, help me speedily because it seems like the Lord just seems like he waits and waits and waits like he’s not in our hurry to get anything done.

And we become so impatient, but if we’re learned to just wait upon the Lord. So anyway, he says here, all that men in verse 15 would praise the Lord for his goodness and for the wonderful works for the children of men. See God says that was a good thing that he did. What? Letting you be in irons, let you be in darkness, let you be in your troubles, why? So that you would find there’s nobody to help you, but God.

And therefore, when you’d call out to God, that’s what God wanted in the first place. So, God uses these wonderful things. The third thing I want you to see is that there are fools. There are fools. And you may be one at different times in your life. You see, we want to be all spiritually mature. All truly Godly individuals. Always making the right decision. But there’s times in our life when we actually are just plain foolish. We play the fool.

We do foolish, stupid, idiotic things. And there’s consequences to it. There’s prices to pay. But now look what he says here in verse 16. For he had broken the gates of brass, cut the bars of iron and sundae, and get verse 17, fools, because of their transgression and because of their iniquity are afflicted. Now, not everybody gets the same benefits of everything. It’s that God may do something with one, that he doesn’t do with somebody else, but in all of it, it always boils down so that men may see the mercy of God and praise God for his goodness.

You see, God not letting us go to hell by saving us, by grace, we received the mercy of God. We didn’t get what we deserve. Boy, isn’t God good. Now when somebody asks you, do you believe that God’s a good God? Yes, God is a good God. God is a good God. God is so good. God is so good. I love that song. I really do. I love that little chorus. But look what he says here. And because of their iniquities are afflicted.

Now some are afflicted because of the sins that they actually commit and they bring it upon themselves. And some people are going to go to an early grade because God’s gonna have to chase them, maybe take a home before their time. And it says in verse 18, and their soul of hoath all men are of meat and they draw near unto the gates of dead. Though God didn’t bring a man right to the door of death. And generally I have seen people who could care less about God until they’re in the hospital.

And then they want the preacher to come and see him. I remember one time I went to say this one guy, he had trust the Lord. And I walked into the room and he was in there, he was sick. And so I came in and I said, what can I do for you? He said, I’ll pray for me to preach. I appreciate you just pray for me. I said, what do you want me to pray for? He said, pray that I can get well.

I says, why? Thought that was kind of dumb. I said, I’m serious. Why do you want to get well? He says, could I don’t want to be sick? I said, no, I want to know the reason. Why do you want to get well? I said, if God was to get you well, would you want to serve the Lord? because of the goodness of God? He said, I don’t want to talk about that. I said, I’m sorry, sir. I don’t want to pray for you either.

And I walked out of the door. You said, you shouldn’t do that. Yes, I did. Well, I should I want that man to get well. So he can continue living. I know what was going on. Just keep on doing it. No, no, no. I want God to flick that man. I want God to get that man because I want that man to serve God. You use people’s problems to get them right with God. If I can get you right with God, He can’t do much for your problems because he God bring those problems.

I’m not for patting the sale for the man that’s going into the prison. 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 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. Life broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bite Online 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 the end of the day. 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bible Night 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.

Here we are. We’re going through fiery trials in our life. There’s a lot of temptation out there to do wrong. What we go ahead and we do what’s right regardless. All right. God says that we are going to, when he comes in his glory, there’s something that’s gonna happen for us. Then he says there in 1 Peter chapter four, verse 13. Ye may be glad also with exceeding what? Joy, when, when his glory shall be revealed. That’s not here.

that’s here. So if you can get the sequence down, like I mentioned this morning, there is a timing in this thing. You see, Christ suffered then glory, humiliated, humiliated. Look at the people that took them. Now glory, that example is what you and I are supposed to while we’re here in this world. As an individual, people may try to humiliate you, not just humble you, humiliate you. You just go ahead and take it. Believing that the righteous judge one day will reward you and then you will have the exceeding joy.

You’ll be glad. Can you commit your life to the Lord. If you commit your life to the Lord, then you can commit everything that happens in this world to you to the Lord. The more you commit into the hands of God, the more you will begin to see the hand of God in every area of your life. But see if you don’t commit your life to the Lord, then you won’t see your Lord moving in your life and do anything before you because many times we will do what others have done.

We take matters into our own hands and by doing so we hinder the Lord from working because we want to handle it ourselves. We want to get revenge. We want to get even. We want to make somebody pay. wrong me, I’ll get you bud. This is what’s causing the problem. Like I mentioned this morning. All this that you see on the news about the riots up there in Ohio, I think is where it was, and then you saw it down here in New Orleans.

You saw it over there in the earthquake in Pakistan, all the looting, and there’s people that will just kill for no reason, tear down buildings, break in the stores, threaten with clubs, and yet individually sometimes those individuals, they would never do that. But you let them get into a mob situation. Have you ever watched the old time cowboy movies and next thing you know, one guy can stand out there and get the whole crowd worked up and we’re going to get that guy out of We’re going to hang him.

They don’t want to wait for the law. We’re going to hang that guy. And sometimes they get the wrong guy and they hang the wrong guy, you know. And then there’s always got to be the hero to come dinner and save the day. Well, this is what people do. They’re not trusting the law to work. But anyway, the way people are, they will have a mob mentality. And people will be like a herd and they cause them to stampede.

Then they do what everybody else is doing. They don’t even have to have a leader. It’s just that somebody else is behind destroying. That’s what Satan does. Satan loves that. Satan can take the old sinful nature of a man and you’d be surprised what he can make him do. And sometimes totally deceived. Some people don’t realize the power of sin and the consequences. So it is better to suffer the wrong than it is to go ahead and try to make it right yourself.

Let God take care of things. Now I’ve mentioned before my stand on, do I think that I have a right to have a gun? Or somebody breaks into my house and I pull open the door and say, well come right on in. No, it’s possible I’ve blown away in Christian love. So there’s certain things you got to have a balance and I believe there’s certain responsibilities we have committed to the government. But there’s some things that government has not committed to us.

You cannot sue the police department if somebody breaks in your house and kills you. though they’re supposed to protect and provide and so forth. But that’s tough. So I like the law they have done in Florida now. Everybody can have a gun and you can shoot somebody you think coming in your house and take something or do something. And I think that’s a good law. That’s a good law. That ought to make somebody think twice before they break into somebody’s house.

Now look there in 1 Peter chapter 4. Look in chapter 4. Look what he says here. here. In verse 14, he said, If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye. For the spirit of glory and of God rested upon you. On their part, he is evil spoken of. But on your part, he is glorified. So they may turn against you for something you say or do that’s And you may be made ashamed, but you see, God is glorified because of what you did.

God says that is a way of you showing other people you trust God. See somebody does me wrong here and I don’t do them wrong back. I don’t render evil for evil because I believe that if I don’t and I just go ahead and do what God says do, I’m going to commit God’s judgment upon that person, therefore I don’t have to. And I’m going to trust the Lord. God says, I am going to have praise, honor, and glory.

One day it’s coming, it will happen, and then I will have this exceeding joy. Now, if you believe the Word of God, then you can do that. If you don’t believe the Word of God, will not do that. So instead of suffering the wrong, you’re going to sin by trying to make it right. So it’s a choice. But if you sin against God or sin against people, then God’s going to have to chasing you. This is where the chasing comes from.

Look now in verse 15. But let none of you suffer. None of you suffer as a murderer, as a thief, or as an evil doer, or as a busy body and other men’s matters. If you want to talk about suffering, just get your nose and other people’s matters and I guarantee you, you won’t be long before you’ll be suffering because somebody’s going to pace you right in the nose as they keep your nose out of my business. Have you ever had somebody tell you that.

I remember what I went to deal with a man and he told me he says, look preacher, mind your own business and keep your nose out of mind. I said, my business is putting my nose into your business and I will too. I will talk you back then. It was probably 25 years ago. And I, I believe that my responsibility is to be about the affairs of the Lord and I’m supposed to preach the book, live it, review, do name it and I’d do it.

And I had, I remember one day a kid came to ranch, kid came and had long hair. And back then there was a lot of hippies, a lot of hippies, they had a lot of long hair. Anyway this year one hippie, you got his purse and he was walking down the street and saw a bunch the guys Georgia Rednecks down here on the corner. He walked up the door and he said, Hi, how y’all doing? He said, we’re killing all the sissies.

Was that right? That’s the true meaning of repentance. He changed his mind. But this here wasn’t hippie. He was kind of lost. Just couldn’t find himself. Dad couldn’t get him to get a haircut. He wouldn’t get him to take a bath. He liked this one girl and so he wanted to take him to the bath and cut his hair and there he was, found himself. But some people, they came out to ranch and a lot of them had long hair.

And so once in a while, and the guys had long hair and the girl had short skirts. So I wish that the girl had the long skirts and the guys had a short hair. But they were kind of getting it mixed up back in. They were all kind of messed up. And I was answering questions. I opened it up and this is one kid he raised and he said, what do you think about long hair? I said, I don’t give you have long hair, three feet long from under your armpits.

I said, don’t matter to me. I said, but God says it’s a shame for a man to have long hair. Now, if you don’t care what God says, it don’t matter to me. No, left it to that because he asked kind of smart and I answered that away. Anyway, I thought everything was over with, finished the ranch. Maybe he had some kids, trust the Lord. Well, I went home, went to bed. It must have been 11 o’clock at night or so.

I got a phone call. This man on the phone. He says Are you Yankee? Yes, sir He says I’m gonna kill you just as soon as I can get my hands on you. I Said sir who is this? He says you never mind who this is But when I get a hold of you you’re mine I says what’s the problem? He said, my son came to your youth meeting tonight and you called him a sissy. I said, sir, I don’t remember calling anybody a sissy.

You told him that he ought to get his hair cut and it was a shame for him to have long hair. I said, sir, I didn’t say it was a shame for him to have long hair. I said, God said it was a shame for him to have long hair. Well, that made him mad. Well, that’s my son and you’re not talking about my son like that in a meeting. You put him down. He asked a question. I thought he wanted an honest answer.

I thought he wanted an answer from the Bible. I showed him the verse that said it. Anyway, he says, I’m gonna kill you. No, I didn’t want to die. So anyway, I got Joe Potter. I said, Joe, let’s, I gotta go see somebody. He said, where we’re going? I said, we’re going to see a guy who threatened my life. He’s like, Leon, I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go. I said, come on, let’s go. I said, if the guy’s gonna kill me, I just didn’t get it over with.

I don’t like to live. All that time is suffering. I’m being suffering. Mental language. I don’t know when you’re gonna come and see me. Let’s just go see him. So anyway, we ran down the road and I pulled him. I knew where he lived. But he wasn’t there. I was kinda glad. This truck wasn’t there. Anyway, I pulled in and I got out and walked up to the door. And his wife, she came to the door and she said, oh, oh, oh, my.

to hear. Get out of here. I said, man, what’s the problem? She says, he’s going to kill you. My husband said to you, he’s going to kill you. I said, man, my sister, he ain’t going to kill me. Yes, he is. He has threatened you. He’s going to kill you. The joke part of it already started back to the car. Come back, Joe, we ain’t going to work. I said, where is he at? She said, well, he’s not here.

He went down the roof. But he’ll be back any minute. I said, good. We’ll come in and wait for him. Is it already if we come anyway for him. She didn’t want me in the house. Anyway, we walked in. Sit down at the table and it didn’t take five minutes. I heard a truck come flying. You could hear the rocks flying. This truck was wheeling around the house because they had to come around the house toward the back door.

And I’m talking about that truck was a spinning sideways and he slammed on the brakes and just, I mean, he got out slammed that door and he come running through the door and my his wife said oh my god oh my god he’s gonna kill him he’s gonna kill him and you know you can tell I didn’t die but he came into that room and he slammed that door open and he looked him aware he’s aware he knew my car and Joe Carter was just turned white as a she I was kind of white himself and I knew I was going to heaven when I died but I wasn’t home sick at the moment.

He came around the table and this is when I am glad that he had a hefty wife. I mean she was very healthy and she was kind of large and she blocked him and he couldn’t get past her. He could have if he wanted to I think. But he wasn’t a little, a little, a little, a little man. I mean, he was a man and he was coming around the table. I’m standing there. I didn’t know what was going to happen.

I mean, if I’m going, Lord, this is not, I’m seeing just a minute, unless you intervene. And she talked to him, got him calmed down a little bit, and I told him what had happened. He finally stopped long and he listened. I finally told him what happened. We were going to have our hayride. And I didn’t have anybody that had a trailer with a flat bed that could haul the kids on it with a hay. And before I got out of that night, he volunteered to be the driver and he would use his truck and he had a flat bed.

We got hay and he drove the truck for rent from after that day for our hay rights and so forth that we had around Stanley Lake. Now I thought, I could have let fear stop me from doing that. But because I believe that it was right, plus at that time I didn’t have much sense. I went and just did it. I remember one day when I was at Tennessee Temple and I had visited on the bus ride, me and Betty had her bus ride at the foot of St.

Elmo. And what are the incline? That’s where my bus ride was. And it’s one guy he asked if I’d come by and see him. He was a drunk. But he had called the church and requested somebody come by and said, that’s all I want by to see him. So when I went by to see him, it was on a night, dark, probably Thursday night. When I went in, he was very nice and he asked me to set down at the table and I sat down at the table.

And he had a gun in his hand. And it looked like I’m like a 45 and he was taking the shells off. And I said, what are you going to do with that gun? So he started putting the shells in. He said, well, when I get all these six shells in here, and he was real slow, he’s drunk. He said, I’m going to shoot you. I said, you’re going to what? He said, I’m going to shoot you. He said, well, I don’t like creatures.

I don’t like you and I want to shoot somebody and you’re it. I didn’t know the guy. I had never done anything to this man. And so when he got the last one in the head, I started talking, boy did I start talking. And I says, you know, by how I know that I have each other, I don’t go to everyone like that. And he started taking the shells back out. And then I said, glad. And then he started talking, started putting the shows back in.

He got to that last show. I started talking. He started taking the shows back out. We went through this off and on for about an hour. And I didn’t know at any point he was going to get mean and nasty. But when he finally got them all back out, I said, well I got to go, I’m sorry, and I got out of the house quick. It wasn’t long after this about two weeks later. Dr. Lee Robertson, he’s about 95 years old now.

He called me up and he told me he says, Yankee. He said, look, he says, there’s a guy that’s in the hospital. And he called and asked you to come by and see him. And he told me who it was, but I couldn’t remember the names. But I went to the hospital and I walked into the room. There was a man in there. He was in very critical condition. And they didn’t expect him to live. But he had requested me to come and see him.

So when I got there, I went into the room and I recognized him. This is the guy that had the gun that was going to, you know, part my soul in eternity. And it looked at me and he kind of smiled. He’s sober now. He said, I really owe you an apology. He said, I am so sorry for what I did. And I took the time and I explained the gospel to him and he trusts the Christ of Savior.

See, somebody had wronged me, but I just let him do whatever he wanted to do. I want to always keep the door where I can still reach him for the Lord if necessary. Just because somebody wrongs me, I don’t have to wrong them back. I remember one day I was on the bus route with Betty, and this was up there at Tennessee Temple. I had tried to get these kids to come to Sunday school. And there’s a whole slew of these kids, but a few of them came.

And I picked them up on my boss. I’d take them to the church and I’d bring them back. And I’d like that because I was trying to build a rod. And I had these kids. And I didn’t want to lose anybody. I hated it when I lost any kid. But one day I came down to Rodin, and they came up with me, and they were crying. And I had stopped. I was visiting the couple. They lived on further down, but they saw me and so they came up and they were crying.

He says, my daddy won’t let us go to church anymore. Because he was a drunkard. He won’t let us come anymore. Well, the house was closed. I mean, he says, and you can’t come to the house. He says, he don’t want you to come to the house. No more. You’re not welcome. You can’t come. And they cry. They want to make it so bad. They wanted to go to church so bad. And so I didn’t want to go to the house.

So I said it as loud as I could. The whole neighborhood could hear me. I said, you mean you mean old daddy won’t let you go to church You mean old daddy that’s drunk won’t let you ride on a bus to go to church. What kind of a father is that? Well, doggy he heard me But I had left he didn’t come out the door Dr. Lee Robertson pulled me into the office and told me he says I got a call from a guy and He says that he doesn’t want you to pick up his kids anymore.

He says, next time you show up he’s going to kill you. I must not be certain on Lord anymore because nobody’s told me that lately. This is all when I was in my young years, you know. I was in my 20s when all this excitement happened. But I guess maybe I have gotten older and more mature that I’m getting along with people better. clash too much. Now I don’t clash with anybody and everybody loves me. Isn’t that wonderful? But if you really want to have an interesting life, serve the Lord, I wanted to be different.

I didn’t want to live my life like millions of people do and die and do nothing, be nothing, have nothing, did nothing for eternity. The best way to serve of the Lord is to do what God says, do and be different. And if you are, all kinds of interesting things will happen. And the Bible says that because of the way that you are, you may be able to win somebody to win them. Look what he says in verse 16.

He says, yet if any man suffer as a Christian, because of who you are, you are a Christian. If you suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed. Don’t be ashamed because of what somebody else says about you or does to you. Just bear the reproach. Just go through it. Don’t worry about it. Consider the source. I’ve had people say nasty things about me. I just consider the source. It doesn’t matter. But he says this, but let him glorify God on this behalf.

For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. You see it’s okay if you understand that there is going to be a judgment of the quick and the dead. Look at their inverse 5, who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead, the living and the dead, or in another place it’s like the saved and the lost. And remember this, he makes the statement in verse 8, pour upon this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead.

Now will the not just talk about those that are spiritually dead, those that are lost, but never trust the Lord is so that they can also be judged by the very same gospel that you heard and believed. That’s why God says, going to all the world and preach the gospel to how many? Every creature. So God wants everybody to hear because that message is what’s going to judge people. And everybody’s going to be judged someday. God Available not a respecter of persons.

But the Lord says, I want you while you’re here, you may suffer for a reason. And the reason that God wants you to suffer while you’re here and you’re suffering is because you’re doing what’s right, not doing what’s wrong. If you’re doing what’s right, like he says in verse 18, for Christ of chapter 3, also have once suffered for sins just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. So now he wants you and I to suffer that we might bring others to the Lord.

So we will do without certain things. There’s places that I won’t go. There’s things that I don’t do. a language that I don’t use so that I might be able to win some. Now you won’t win them all but you may win some. And so you have a little higher standard. You want to be different. Look what he says over there in verse 8 of chapter 3. He says finally be all of one mind and having compassion one of another.

Love is brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. I mean be full of pity. Be full of pity. Let me ask you a question. When the Bible talks about those who wrong you, and he was talking to Peter there in the book of Matthew, it says, how many times am I supposed to forgive my brother? He says 70 times seven. It means to forgive without limit. Forgive without limit. It means there’s no limit to how many times you should forgive somebody.

If I am to forgive without limit, when should I show compassion? One a day, two a week. Where should I show pity? Once a month, twice a year? Or is it something that you and I are supposed to do all the time? We’re supposed to love all without limit. Show compassion without limit. It has nothing to do with what other people do, but it’s the way that you are. You are kind because you’re kind. You are loving. You are forgiving.

Just because other people don’t respond correctly and they do you wrong, you still do them right. Because you know that there’s a day coming when the righteous judge is going to bless you with exceeding great joy and it’ll be worth it all. You will win in the long run. How father we do thank you so much for giving us your word and follow we live in a time where there are so many people who do not know Christian values.

They don’t know the character of being a Christian. They don’t live like one. Don’t act like one. Don’t talk like one. And yet they name the name of Christ. We pray, Lord, You’re willing to be done in each individual life in this room, that Father, we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, the next day, but we know we’re going to have a fiery trial during our lifetime. And the temptations are going to be great. The trials are going to be great.

The warfare. Lord, there’s so much. But we know that if we just look to you and trust you, seek not revenge, not to rail upon those who rail on us, not to get even, not rendering evil for evil. But Father, to have a Christian spirit, a forgiving spirit, and at all times, show in love, show in compassion, because these things are ranked, and to forgive without limit. The Asha blessings upon each family here 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. 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.

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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 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.

sin or suffer. Part 2. Tonight I’d like to continue to move that thought. And the key thing to keep in mind is that there’s choices to be made and that God has given to us the freedom of choice. All of life is making decisions. We reveal our our wisdom by the decisions that we make. If we make a bunch of foolish decisions, somebody just liable to call you a fool. If you make a bunch of wise decisions, somebody’s just liable to think you’re wise.

So you gotta make it about three in a row. If you make three whys in a row, you’re smart. Three dumb ones in a row, you’re a fool. So you try to make a series of correct decisions. In the book of Matthew, I want you to look there in chapter 11, Matthew chapter 11. This is really, I think a blanket statement concerning the condition of the world. How God sees every individual. In Matthew chapter 11, he just talked about how that God is going to be judging some cities and the people of the world.

make this statement there in verse 28. He says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learneth me. For I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, my burden is light. You must be convinced that serving God is easier than serving the devil. Betty’s dad told me you’ll either be led by the Lord or driven by the devil.

I remember in the flyleaf of his Bible he had a little statement that he had written. This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book. Pretty good statement, ain’t it? Sin will keep you from the book, or the book will keep you from sin. So you make a choice. You want the book or you want sin. Do you want to write your life or a sinful life? We know from the verses that we read this morning, he said, Be holy for I am holy.

And God expects you and I to seek to live a holy life. We cannot live a perfect life. And that’s why God made provision that in the process of your living this holy life, You make mistakes, you do things wrong. We call it slits or air, anything you want to call it. But God has a provision for it. It’s called 1 John 1 9. Anybody know how to quote 1 John 1 9? Anybody quote it? 1 John 1 9.

Every Christian needs to know that verse for the simple reason. That’s a verse on how to correct a problem. See, not everybody will live, pull the Lord to the same degree. But every Christian will have some faults in his life. Make some bad decisions. So what are you going to do when you make a bad decision? Well, the first one that you need to make is to have an honesty between you and God. That means that you confess it to God, and God says that he be just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all in righteousness.

You know where it’s found now. You know what it says now. But that’s the verse every person needs to know. Every Christian needs to know that verse because that’s the verse for you to get things right with the Lord. And the reason is because everybody will do things that are not right for the Lord. But he says, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Now go all the way back over there to the book of Peter, first Peter, the book of 1 Peter.

As we studied this morning about this subject of suffering because you, after you trusted Christ of Savior, you got a choice. It’s the same thing like telling a teenager, Johnny, take out the trash. Or Johnny’s got a choice. One, take out the trash. Two, don’t take out the trash. If he takes out the trash, he’s blessed, you’re blessed, everybody’s happy. And he inherits a blessing. But if he doesn’t, he makes the wrong choice, then he has to suffer for his sin.

So you can either suffer for doing right or suffer for doing wrong, but suffer you will. Now on the screen up here, and I’ve showed you this before, all of our life, as you live upon the earth in a body of flesh, this is called a time of suffering. Glory will follow later. Christ when he came, the Bible says, that they studied the scriptures to see and discern the times when the Spirit which was in them did signify the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.

This is the Kingdom upon the earth that is coming. We are right here, right before the rapture. Seven years later we could be into the Kingdom. That’s not far away. But this is a period of glory. The King from heaven coming in all his power, all of his glory, to the earth. He comes here as a lion. Here he came as a lamb. So here as a lamb, he was crucified, suffered, glory. You and I are supposed to believe that for us to get through the period of time that God has given to us, wherever we find ourselves in this life upon the earth, this is where we are.

Now, after us, there will be people that will be here. There will be other people that will be here. But every time period you find yourself in, you have a certain responsibility. And that responsibility is to God that made us and put us here and told us what to do. Now we can follow people and do whatever people does, or we can do whatever God says. But God says you can choose. If you choose to do what I say do in this life, you will perhaps suffer wrong from other people who will not like what you say or do or the stand that you take.

So there’s a price to pay. But if you don’t suffer by doing what’s right, then God says you’re going to sin because it’ll be rebellion. So when people wrong us, I can either choose to do wrong to them or I can choose to suffer the wrong they did to me. God does not want you and I making things right with everybody who wrongs us. I believe if you wrong someone as a child of God, you should make it right.

But you can’t make somebody else make it right because they may not do that. They may not have strong faith in the Lord, so therefore they’re not going to come to you. Maybe apologize. Look, I was wrong. I’m sorry and all. They may never do that. What are you going to do? Well, you can’t be responsible for what they do. You are responsible for what you do. So therefore, as a child of God, you and I have this responsibility as a Christian.

Now look there in 1 Peter, chapter four. Look in chapter four. In verse 12, now much of the scripture in 1 Peter is talking about suffering. And the word suffering is the key word in the whole book. mentioned about 15 times. And so God says that marriage, believe it or not, is one of the illustrations that’s given here of where a Christian will be tried more than any other. Why? Because you live your life most of it will be you will live as a married individual.

Most of us in this room have lived most of our lives as a married person, except somebody never got married. But I have been living for 63 years, but I’ve been only single for 18. I’ve been married for 45. So many people, after a while, say you’re married for a long time. So most of your trouble that you’re going to have is going to be because of in marriage. That one individual that you happen to be linked up to for the rest of your life.

Do you really believe that who you choose to be married to is an important decision? And yet have you seen people today who make some of the most ungodly decisions about choices of what they do? And sometimes only by the grace of God do we make it. I remember at the very beginning of our marriage, but I was a loose cannon. I did not have. I had my marble, but my shooter was missing. I did not know what kind of a husband to be.

I didn’t know what kind of a father to be. I had never gone to church. I hadn’t read the Bible. I didn’t do a lot of things that I should do and should have known. But I wasn’t taught. I didn’t know. And pretty much for a while, I guess I really didn’t care. I just didn’t know. And so I looked for something that I didn’t have. I wanted to know the will of God and didn’t know what it was.

I wanted peace and I didn’t know how to find it. And so I struggled in our marriage. I didn’t have the answers that I was looking for. And I made a bunch of just decisions off the top of my head, whatever I thought of, that’s what I do. Well, that’s because I didn’t have the stability that I needed. I didn’t know the word of God. I didn’t know what I should do, shouldn’t do. But now look what he says here in verse 12.

Verse 12 is a very important verse and you ought to underline this verse in your Bible. If you don’t have it underlined, I would underline this verse in your Bible. Because as you live your life, they love it, think it not strange. Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you. Well, I think the context here, he’s still talking to the married couple. Chapter three, it’s what it’s talking about. And I would believe that most of the problems that people have in this world is because of marriage.

And because of the conflict that’s there. And a man being found faithful, the woman being found faithful, a man being a godly man, didn’t have children, and then the decisions you’ve got to make as a multitude. this with a man and a wife, they’re there before the kids. Kids will come, kids will stay and kids will go. But after the kids come and the kids have stayed and the kids have gone, you still stay. And the thing even in a church, people come and people stay for a while and people go.

It’s just the facts of life. But the key thing is as an individual, you just keep staying strong and keep doing what’s right. But he says this in verse 12, Beloved, Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try it. Now, note, he didn’t just say it’s a fiery trial. And there’s a lot of fire in this trial that really can burn you. I told Betty the sermon that I preached last week on a Sunday night with the burning apostle, I told you about the title of burning the puzzle and it’s not means that he’s on fire for the Lord It means that he says you get mad you get offended and I burn not you don’t think it I get offended too So you might get offended by a lot of things So do I do you think as a husband you’re the only one who gets offended

What do you ever think your wife might get offended to do you think that children ever get offended? And if everybody can be offended, everybody can be hurt. If everybody can be offended, everybody can be hurt, everybody can be hurt, everybody can be bitter. And everybody gets bitter, everybody can sin. When they say, do something they should not have done out of a fit of anger. So the key is, as you mature, can we get to where we can think before we just react, so that we can respond correctly the way God wants us to.

So we will suffer many things. Now let’s get what he says here in verse 13. But rejoice in as much as he are partakers of Christ’s sufferings. And get this next statement for when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. When are you supposed to expect this great exceeding joy? If you read the verse, what does it say? Even though you may have a fiery trial now, here we are. We’re going through fiery trials in our life.

There’s a lot of temptation out there to do wrong. But we go ahead and we do what’s right regardless. God says that we are going to, when He comes in His glory, there’s something that’s going to happen for us. Then he says there in verse 13, ye may be glad also with exceeding what? Joy. When? When his glory shall be revealed. That’s not here. That’s here. So if you can get the sequence down, like I mentioned this morning, there is a timing in this thing.

You see, Christ suffered, then glory, humiliated, humiliated. Look at the people that took them. Now glory, that example is what you and I are supposed to while we are here in this world. As an individual, people may try to humiliate you, not just humble you, humiliate you. You just go ahead and take it. believing that the righteous judge one day will reward you and then you will have the exceeding joy. You’ll be glad. Can you commit your life to the Lord?

If you commit your life to the Lord then you can commit everything that happens in this world to you to the Lord. The more you commit into the hands of God, the more you will begin to see the hand of God in every area of your life. But see if you don’t commit your life to the Lord, then you won’t see the Lord moving in your life and do anything for you because many times we will do what others have done.

We take matters into our own hands and by doing so we hinder the Lord from working because we want to handle it ourselves. We want to get revenge. We want to get even. We want to make somebody pay. You wrong me. I’ll get you bud. This is what’s causing the problem. Like I mentioned this morning. All this that you see on the news about the riots up there in Ohio, I think is where it was. And then you saw it down here in New Orleans.

You saw it over there in the earthquake in Pakistan, all the looting, and there’s people that will just kill for no reason. Tear down buildings, break in the stores, threaten with clubs, and yet individually sometimes those individuals, they would never do that. But you let them get into a mob situation. Have you ever watched the old time cowboy movies and next thing you know, one guy can stand out there and get the whole crowd worked up and we’re going to get that guy out of jail and we’re going to hang him.

They don’t want to wait for the law. We’re going to hang that guy and sometimes they get the wrong guy and they hang the wrong guy you know and there’s always got to be the hero that comes in here and saves the day. Well this is what people do. They’re not trusting the law to work, but anyway, the way people are, they will have a mob mentality and people will be like a herd and they cause them to stamp people.

Then they do what everybody else is doing. They don’t even have to have a leader. It’s just that somebody else is behind destroying. That’s what Satan does. Satan loves that. Satan can take the old sinful nature of a man and you’d be surprised what he can make him do. And sometimes totally deceived. Some people don’t realize the power of sin and the consequences. So it is better to suffer the wrong than it is to go ahead and try to make it right yourself.

Let God take care of things. Now, I’ve mentioned before my stand on, do I think that I have a right to have a gun or somebody breaks into my house and my post opened the door and so it will come right on end? No, it’s possible I’ll blow them away in Christian love. So there are certain things you’ve got to have a balance. And I believe there are certain responsibilities we have committed to the government. But there are some things that government has not committed to us.

You cannot sue the police department if somebody breaks in your house and kills you. Though they’re supposed to protect and provide and so forth. But that’s tough. So I like the law they have done in Florida now. Everybody can have a gun and you can shoot somebody you think coming in your house and take something or do something and I think that’s a good law. That’s a good law. That ought to make somebody think twice before they break into somebody’s house.

Look what he says here. In verse 14, he said, If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye. For the spirit of glory and of God rested upon you on their part, he is evil spoken of. But on your part, He is glorified. So they may turn against you for something you say or do that’s right. And you may be made ashamed. But you see, God is glorified because of what you did. God says that is a way of you showing other people you trust God.

See, somebody does me wrong here and I don’t do them wrong back. I don’t render evil for evil because I believe that if I don’t and I just go ahead and do what God says do, I’m going to commit God’s judgment upon that person, therefore I don’t have to. And I’m going to trust the Lord. God says, I am going to have praise, honor, and glory. One day it’s coming. It will happen. And then I will have this exceeding joy.

Now, If you believe the word of God, then you can do that. If you don’t believe the word of God, you will not do that. So instead of suffering the wrong, you’re gonna sin by trying to make it right. So it’s a choice. But if you sin against God or sin against people, then God’s gonna have to chasing you. This is where the chasing comes from. Look now in verse 15. But let none of you suffer. None of you suffer as a murderer, as a thief, or as an evil doer, or as a busy body and other men’s matters.

If you want to talk about suffering, just get your nose to know the people’s matters and I guarantee you, you won’t be long before you’ll be suffering because somebody’s going to pace you right in the nose as they keep your nose out of my business. Have you ever had somebody tell you that? I remember what I went to deal with a man and he told me, he says, look, preacher, mind your own business and keep your nose out of mind.

I said, my business is putting my nose into your business and I will too. I will talk you back then. It was probably 25 years ago. And I believe that my responsibility is to be about the affairs of the Lord and I’m supposed to preach the book, live it, review, you name it, and I’d do it. And I had, I remember one day a kid came to ranch, a kid came and had long hair. And back then there was a lot of hippies, a lot of hippies.

They had a lot of them had a long hair. Anyway, this is one hippie. He got his purse and he was walking down the street. He saw a bunch of guys, Georgia red next down here on the corner. He walked up and he says, Hi, how y’all doing? He said, we’re killing all the sissies. Was that right? That’s the true meaning of repentance. He changed his mind. But this is one hippie. He was kind of lost. This couldn’t find himself.

Dad couldn’t get him to get a haircut. He wouldn’t get him to take a bath. He liked this one girl. So he wound up taking a bath and cutting his hair and there he was. Found himself. But some people, they came out to ranch and a lot of them had long hair. And so once in a while, and the guys had long hair and the girl had short skirts. So I wish that the girl had the long skirts and the guys had a short hair.

But they were kind of getting it mixed up back in. They were all kind of messed up. And I was answering questions. I opened it up and this is one kid he he raised and he said, what do you think about long hair? I said, I don’t give you have long hair three feet long from under your armpits. He said, don’t matter to me. I said, but God says it’s a shame for a man to have long hair. Now, if you don’t care what God says, it don’t matter to me.

No, left it at that because he asked kind of smart and I answered that away. Anyway, I thought everything was over with finished the ranch. Maybe I had some kids trust the Lord. Well, I went home, went to bed. It must have been 11 o’clock at night or so. I got a phone call. This man on the phone, he says, are you Yankee? I said, yes, sir. He says, I’m going to kill you just as soon as I can get my hands on you.

I said, sir, who is this? He says, you never mind who this is. But when I get ahead of you, you’re mine. I said, what’s the problem? He said, my son came to your youth meeting tonight and you called him a sissy. I said, sir, I don’t remember calling anybody a sissy. You told him that he ought to get his hair cut and was a shaper him to have long hair. I said, sir, I didn’t say it was a shame for him to have long hair.

I said, God said it was a shame for him to have long hair. Well, that made him mad. Well, that’s my son. And you’re not talking about my son like that in a meeting. Put him down. He asked a question. I thought he wanted the non- answer. I thought he wanted an answer from the Bible. I showed him the verse that said it. Anyway, he says, I’m gonna kill you. No, I didn’t want to die. So anyway, I got Joe Potter.

I said, Joe, let’s, I got to go see somebody. He said, where are we going? I said, we’re going to see a guy who threatened my life. He’s like, Leon, I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go. I said, come on, Let’s go. I said, if the guy’s going to kill me, I just didn’t get it over with. You know, I don’t like to live. All that time is suffering. I’m being suffering. Mental language. I don’t know when you’re going to come and see me.

Let’s just go see him. So anyway, we ran down the road and popped pulled him to. I knew where he lived. But he wasn’t there. God’s right. This truck wasn’t there. Anyway, I pulled in and I got out and walked up to the door. his wife she came to the door and she said oh my stars get out of here get out of here I said man what’s the problem she says he’s gonna kill you my husband said you he’s gonna kill you I says man my says he ain’t gonna kill me yes he is he has threatened you like he’s gonna kill you the job part of already started back to the car come back Joe Wing going over I said where is he at she said well he’s not here he went down the roof but he’ll be back any minute I said good we’ll come in and wait for him

is it all right if we come in and wait for him she didn’t want me in the house anyway we walked it sit down at the table and it didn’t take five minutes I heard a truck come flying you could hear the rocks flying this truck was wheeling around the house because they had to come around the house toward the back door you know and I’m talking about that truck was a spinning sideways and And he slammed on the brakes and just, I mean, he got out, slammed that door, and he come running through the door.

And my, his wife said, oh my God, oh my God, he’s gonna kill, he’s gonna kill. And you know, you can tell I didn’t die. But he came into that room and he slammed that door open and he looked everywhere, he knew my car. And Joe Carter was just turned white in the sheet. I was kind of white in the cell. And I knew I was going to heaven when I died, but I wasn’t home sick at the moment.

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 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 Bible Live, 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 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 reason that Jesus Christ didn’t have to fight back to sin against anybody is because he had committed this problem to God, His heavenly Father. Trusted that. He was totally dependent upon the Father, taking care of Him. And therefore he didn’t have to sin. He never yielded any sin. And he says that He is an example. Are people going to wrong you? Yes. Even you were going to wrong you. You will lie to yourself. You will deceive yourself. And people will also do the same thing and you will do it to other people.

But there’s evil in this world and you have a sinful nature. Now I want you to take your Bible look there in 1 Peter and chapter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4. Look now in verse Verse 2, 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 2, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men but to the will of God. You have a choice. You can live the rest of your life either to the lust of men or to the will of God.

So which one? Choices that you have to make. I have a difference to make a difference. Now chapter 3, chapter 3. Then He makes a statement here in verse 18. For Christ also had once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust. Here you are and you are the person that’s trying to do what’s right. You’re the just. Someone is trying to do something to you that’s unjust. says the just suffers because of them and for them. So will you allow somebody else to wrong you without sinning back against them?

That’s the game. You see God will not stop people from wronging you. He doesn’t do that. God doesn’t stop that. You are not to retaliate. Have you ever watched anybody whether it’s raxlyn or whatever in life and football it’s the guy who sometimes retaliates he gets always caught and he gets kicked out of the game because he was well he hit me first and how many times a boy’s and girl brothers and sisters got into a fight he started it it sometimes doesn’t matter who started it it’s usually the second guy that retaliates he gets caught and gets in trouble just use the experiences of life.

It’s true. But God says, you and God’s the one that’s overseeing this one. He is the righteous judge. Christ committed all of this and the wrong of him. He committed that to God. To the one that judges righteously and can trust that. You and I have problem with that. Because we are not sure if God’s really going to step in and take care of things. So we’re willing to take you have no idea when I was young and I had I was just 18 I trusted Christ in my Savior how easy it was for me I’d want to just deck up I do care if I lost or not didn’t matter I would fight Leon remembers the day that I got in a fight with a guy that was twice as big as me Goss when I got my nose broke I don’t know if you were there that night but he wasn’t supposed to

coming to the meeting. But anyway, I was 17 and a half or something like that. In a word, this guy was one big mean dude. He just got out of a chain game and working on a rock pile and he was one big massive man. But we would fight when I was in school. I thought just about all the time he was in a fight. I never started a fight but I was always at him. Did you always win?

No, I never won all the fights. I got beat up bad. But we fought. Always fight him. But that’s not the way God intended us to solve our problems. Now, he makes a statement here, the just for the unjust and get the reason. Why did he do it? That he might bring us to God. He did it that he might bring us to God. Okay, now here you are. Somebody wrongs you. Did you know if you wrong them back, it’s very hard to witness to the mizna.

Isn’t it very difficult to give them a heaven track and tell them how much God loves them after you just chew them out and hit them or whatever they custom out. You can’t do it. Or if you give your waitress a big bad time, it’s hard to leave them a track. It’s better to try to figure out a way, how can I be used by God to bring this person to God? Am I willing to suffer the consequences? Even if they say something, they’re trying to get me right, make me mad, whatever you do.

But remember, people don’t make you mad. You choose to get mad. That’s a choice. We just don’t like it when we lose control of ourselves or someone gets the best of us. As always, you did this. You made me mad. You chose to get mad. Just like there was a problem up there. I just heard it on the news last night. I guess it was really ugly and turned bad. I guess some neo-Nazis was up there and the next thing you know some gang came out of.

It doesn’t matter what the first one. You can’t recaliate this way again. Now what if everybody had applied the Christian method, the Lord’s way? Well one or two things, one that wouldn’t have been those skinheads doing what they were doing and then the others wouldn’t have been doing what they were doing. But people because they do not control the flesh, next thing you know, anger controlled and it doesn’t matter. I think those stones at the police just try to destroy emergency vehicle and all the things to do.

Then rob and then you know break into buildings and all that. What’s that got to do with them? What’s all that for? And yet they do it all over the world. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are. People respond pretty much because you got an old sinful nature. People are pretty much the same way. And that’s the shame that’s because they have no control. And they don’t believe what this book is teaching. They don’t believe that there’s a righteous judge that one day will take care of everything.

Now does that mean that nobody should ever protect themselves? No, I’m not a pacifist. I believe very strongly in protecting myself. And I’ll preach on that at another time, maybe like Memorial Day or the Fourth of July. And you need to get both sides of the coin. Now, because he made this statement, I am the just suffering for the unjust that I might bring them to God. Now, look there in chapter 3 verse 1. Now he’s talking about likewise ye wives.

See that? Look in verse 7. Likewise ye husbands. And then chapter 5 and verse 5 it says likewise ye younger. The first time he started off with Christ. Likewise Christ when he suffered. So we have something that’s really good for us as an example of why we should choose to suffer rather than to sin. If your husband do you wrong, should you do him wrong back? But why do you wrong? Should you do that person wrong back? Choose to sin or you choose to suffer.

It’s a choice. But if you’ll suffer, the damage, the hurt, and commit it to God. Don’t send back. So the Bible says be angry and sin not because there’s many times you can get angry because of what somebody does it so wrong but make sure you don’t use that as justification to sin against the person. You see regardless of what say the neo-nazi was doing of that. It’s not justification for somebody else to do wrong. Wrong is still wrong.

And too wrong they say don’t make a right. Then it doesn’t. Likewise he says you wives. Now get the point here. He says you wives be in subjection to your own husbands. And the reason is because in the marriage situation whether we We like it or we don’t like it. Let me just state the facts. There’s a war almost all the time going on between the Battle of Mines. It would be great if everybody was just super duper Christians and totally submission and all that, but it doesn’t work that away because we have two individuals that comes together and mom and dad are not perfect.

Never use mom and dad in their false is justification for your own. But a husband and wife, there’s there’s complications at times, disagreements at times. And the Bible tells us there’s something here that the wife can do to reach the husband if she’s willing to suffer. Down in verse 7 it talks about the husband and there’s things that he must be willing to suffer because marriage causes a lot of suffering. They say when you get married there’s three rings, the engagement ring, the wedding ring, and the suffering.

So there’s there’s things that are going to happen in marriages as time goes on. The honeymoon does not last forever, but because of the testimony that is so important for a a married family, a Christian home to hell, it’s important that each one understand how to deal with the conflict. How do you solve the problem? You can either choose to suffer or you can choose to sin. We can’t go back into all the past. You can’t correct everything has ever been done.

Sometimes you have to look, let’s just forgive everything, let’s just start over, cry, and go from here, whatever. But every person somewhere along the line in most homes sooner or later will have the difficulty and must make decisions. Even sometimes and the most sweetest godliness of homes, things are not always there appear to be because many times nobody wants anybody else to know what they’re having a problem. Generally, a woman will seek counseling where the man will deny that he even needs it or that he didn’t have the problem.

That’s just the nature of the beast because that’s the way men are. The wife wants to know directions and the man I’ll find it sooner or later because he don’t like to give up and to give in. In the mid-day, he don’t know where he is. I’m not lost. The world is. I know where I am nobody else knows where they are. But notice what he says in verse 1, likewise you wise be in subjection to your own husband that if any obey not the word you have a husband that doesn’t obey the word.

And I have lived long enough and had churches long enough and seen people enough that know that many times it is the woman that’s trying to get the family to do right that tries to get the kids and tries to get her husband. And many times I’ve seen where the the why sometimes will come and the husband never does, never takes the stand that he should. And it’s hard and it’s difficult to fund them, trying to do what’s right in their fighting like a losing battle and they can’t make them.

So what can they do? So they suffer sometimes consequences. But he says here in verse 1 that without the word, that means without the woman preaching to him. Without the man sitting underneath, maybe the church preacher, without having a pastor, what can happen? How can you win somebody without the word? And the Bible is talking about the behavior of the wife. Get what he says. He says, without the word be one by the behavior of the wife. Why they behold your chase behavior, that word conversation, behavior coupled with fear.

Because you are so journey in your life here in fear, you’re choosing rather to suffer for the Lord than to sin. And if the husband is not all that he should be, many times the wife suffers the consequences of it. And if she has to suffer the consequences of it, God says for her to maintain a tremendous testimony for the Lord and in doing so she might buy that, convince their husband and whenever you read the scripture that says that if any man asks you a reason of the hope that lies within you that you may be able to give an answer.

See they’re in verse 15 but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks if you are a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. In other words, if the husband wants to know why you take a stand the way you do or live the way you do or respond the way you do, then you can do it. You have a region to give an answer in meatness, not in condemnation, not in trying to destroy, not trying to pull them down.

But as a good wife, with the right behavior, might be able to convince and have an answer because she fears God. And God says, this takes a lot of grace. To submit to anyone takes a lot of love and a lot of grace, a lot of forgiveness. But you can choose to either suffer or sin. And many times we don’t want to suffer the consequences. But God tells us, look on down the road. There is a God that’s a righteous judge.

And like is Christ committed that to him? Commit your life to the Lord. We often hear that phrase commit your life to Christ. Well really, should a Christian commit their life to Christ? Yes. Should a husband, should a wife, should teenagers, Should you commit your life to the Lord? Yes. That means committing your life to the Lord, you’re able to live and let God deal with many of the situations, otherwise you would deal with. And you weren’t gonna handle it right.

Many times we as people miss great opportunities because we quit right before victory. We face defeat because we can’t believe that it will, it’ll turn out right. it’ll never be the best. And so we jump the gun. It’s kind of like when the Lord told Sarah, Sarah, the one that was married to Abraham, you’re gonna have a baby. And she laughed because of that. And yet there’s something about her that God says every woman should learn. Now, when this was written almost 2000 years ago, Remember, he’s referring to something that was over 1500 years before that.

And I guess those were the good old days. Well, when are the good old days? Look what he says here in verse three. He says, who’s adorning, let it not be that outward appearance, outward adorning, a plating the hair, wearing a gold or a pudding on a apparel. That is not what makes a happy home. That’s not what dignifies a person of character a Character is the inward man the inner spirit of the individual The new man though Nutrusted Christ is Sager or you an individual of a meek and a quiet spirit get what he says But in verse four let it be the hidden man of the heart What kind of a man?

In verse 5 it mentions, been in subjection, that is because of the strength of the inner man. So every woman has the Holy Spirit living within her. And because you are now looked upon as the new man, that’s the new birth. Be strengthened in your new birth so that you will be able to properly submit as you should. I believe that it is a shame that today that there’s not more godly homes as there are. Isn’t there any good godly Christian ladies of character that a man can choose from?

and yet believe it or not the majority of guys that will get married will not choose a godly individual they play the fool and they will marry anybody and the reason is because they will date anybody if you will date anybody you’ll marry anybody and because they have no high standards anything goes and they ruin what could have been a wonderful thing down the road because one of the greatest things that you’ll ever experience in this life is to have someone that you love to go through life with you that knows all the ups and downs what you’ve gone through the heartaches the miseries and you name it the fights and woah what but you grind it out and lo and behold years will pass.

One day you’re going to get old. One day you’re going to leave this world. Is God capable of guiding you and strengthening you, giving you the grace that you need? Can you suffer consequences, though it may be hard and difficult? I don’t get into how much you can bear. That’s between you and the Lord. You can’t go back and correct things that already has been done. But I’m talking about from where you are. And as you go forward, I believe that it’s the will of God that whoever you have right now, that’s the will of God.

At this point, that is the will of God for you to be a godly husband and the woman to be a godly wife and for all the young people in here that are not married to have some common sense. Out of all the women in the world, can you find yourself a good, godly Christian woman that will do right. Love the Lord. Because why play the fool? I do believe that just like God made Adam and he brought a woman along.

But this woman was made because Adam had some ribs. And evidently he had maybe one too many. And God took one of those ribs and made him a woman and you all know the story. Well, remember this, fellas, as you’re looking around. I believe there’s another rib out there that belongs to you if you’re looking for one. I believe you need to be very careful and trust the Lord to guide you to find the right rib of you. Do you believe that God can design the right woman for you Yes.

And can God bring you together? Yes. I believe that. But why was so many bees so foolish? To jump the gun, not to do right. And yet at the same time there’s such a wonderful thing He says there’s going to be times in your life that you’re going to struggle, you’re going to suffer, and if you don’t, just Choose to suffer You’re going to choose the sin and the sin is going to cost you So the Lord tells us that we need to put him first and all these things I have much of this that I want to continue but we’re not going to be able to do it all at this time Look up here This hand represent you and me the wallet represent sin we all have sin upon us.

You all remember this? You haven’t forgotten it, have you? God, look up here now. God loves us, hates our sin. For you and out of paper that sin is eternal separation from the Lord, a place called hell. But it loves us and wants us to go to heaven and to go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God. No one’s perfect, no one is righteous as God. The Bible teaches us that sin is not permitted into heaven, you have to be perfect.

None of us are. The paper sin, death and hell, and we have no way of getting rid of our sin except by death. This hand represents Jesus Christ, he’s got in the place. He came into this world because he loves us, hates our sin because it separates us from him. So Christ took the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead, said if we’ll believe he did it for us, he would put that payment to our account and we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for us.

That’s a gift. That’s free. God loves us that much that He would give us as a gift eternal life. After you trusted Christ’s Savior, your God’s child, you have this life to live. And whether it’s today, tomorrow, you’ll understand the trial of your faith been much more precious than a gold and silver, though it be tried with fire. That one day it will be worth more than all of the gold and the silver and the world. And you will be found receiving the praise, the honor, and the glory.

Get the sequence. You’ll suffer now, glory later. If you choose not to suffer now, you’ll choose to sin now. If you sin now, it’s not reward later, glory, praise. No, you don’t get none of that. But chastening is a choice. And I pray that you’ll be wise. And this will maybe help you just a little bit. And also, this is not just a one way thing about the wise suffer. Sometimes the men suffer consequences also, because they sometimes marry a woman that is one wow wicked woman.

The Bible says that the great man Solomon lived in a big beautiful palace, evidently one day there must have been a rainstorm and he had a leaky roof. And as he sit there and he listened to that water drip, drip, drip. On the other side of the palace there he had, who knows how many his wives were in there arguing back and forth and arguing with him and always just going on and on. And he says that the dripping of the water and the continual talking of the women is pretty much the same thing.

He says, one day no doubt he went up on the house top. And while he was up on the house top, he looked over there and he saw a man. He was curled up on his roof and he had a blanket wrapped around him. And he thought that man has been kicked out of his home and he’s having to live on the house top. He says, a man would be better off living on the house top with nothing. Then in a house with a wild, wicked woman, proverbs, Solomon had how many wives?

700 wives and 300 concubines. He had troubles, didn’t he? And we had trouble with just one. He had a thousand of them. He must have been a man’s man. I don’t know. Let’s pray, shall we? Our Father, we are thankful for your blessings to us. I pray, Lord, you will to be done in the lives of each person that’s here. And Father, as we think about the things that you’ve done for us, the sacrifice you made, the just for the unjust to bring us to God.

that sometimes the suffering that we go through is the opportunities to bring that person to you. And when we get mad and irritable and bitter and mean and hateful, it makes it very difficult for us to witness or to bring that person to you. Help us, Lord, to be willing to suffer the consequences because who wants to win an argument and lose the soul? Help us to be wise. We ask all the ab lessons upon our church. We thank you for those that are here today, and use it for your own glory.

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, 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. Hot 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, they are God’s word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made 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.

Look there is first Peter, the book of first Peter. I told you I was going to speak on the subject, sin or suffer. So what in the world do you mean? Well, in our so journey through this life, as a child of God, we remember that we are pilgrims upon the earth. means that we’re away from home, strangers, but we’re going home. So we’re strangers and pilgrims in this life. But while we’re here in the process of time, you will choose as a Christian to do one of two things.

You will choose to sin or suffer for it, to sin or to suffer. When someone does you wrong, you can either sin against them or you can suffer by doing right. But if you do right, you have a price to pay. So when everything that happens to us after we trusted Christ as our Savior, you’re making choices either to sin or to suffer. So Christ gives us something to look at. The Bible says that He was an example of what it’s like to suffer.

But there’s a reason and there’s a way that He thinks and God tells us to think the same way. Look there in 1 Peter chapter 4 and look in verse 1. He makes a statement for as much than His Christ has suffered for us in the flesh. Arm yourselves, likewise with the same mind, for he that hath suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. You will either suffer or sin. And Christ is the example of what it’s like to suffer because he did not sin.

And because of the example that he set forth, you and I have a multitude of decisions to make as we live our life. And the reason that it’s so difficult sometimes, suffering doesn’t sound very enjoyable. And sin is so easy. Did you realize how easy it is to sin? To be rebellious, to fight for your right sin is so easy look there in chapter one first Peter chapter one after you have trusted Christ is your Savior the Bible says that you were saved from something to something in verse four to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fate if not a way reserved in heaven for you So you know that once you trust the Lord, you have a place reserved for you in heaven.

And there’s nothing that can happen to it. You can’t lose it. It’s guaranteed. It’s your inheritance because of who you are, your child of God. That’s where you’re going. The problem, you’re not there yet. And then He makes a statement there in verse 5, who are kept by the power of God. You didn’t have the power to save yourself. You don’t have the power to keep yourself safe, but it does make this statement in verse 6 We’re in ye greatly rejoice You’re glad that you know you’re going to heaven and you know that you’re glad that the Lord is The one that’s keeping you safe And keeping you safe and that the Lord is going to take you there, it’s guaranteed.

That’s a wonderful thing to know. So he says, you are greatly rejoiced because of that truth. But he says in verse 6, if need be, he says ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. Now, being tempted to sin in this life and wanting to do right is a blessing. difficult thing to go through. It’s hard. It’s very trying. It’s very stressful. And some Christians are able to withstand temptations. Some Christians cannot. Temptation doesn’t have to be only with sex.

It can be with money. It can be with power, fame, with glory, praise. There’s many things that can catch your eye and and cause you to be tempted. He makes the statement in the book of 1 John that says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world and the love of the Father is not in him. And he mentions several things there that give proof that you love the world and not the Lord.

And he says, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, those three things are the things that prove that you love the world more than you love God. So you have to watch the lust of the flesh, you wanna fulfill those desires, the lust of the eyes. Gotta fight that temptation. And now he says the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, then the quite a life. Those positions of honor and so forth, the big eye, ego, macho, me.

me. I’m the greatest. The world revolves around me. And God says, pride lifts up and destroys. And destruction is the result of being lifted up with pride. Then He makes a statement here, you are in heaven is through manifold temptation. It’s not just one, but you get a lot of them. kinds. And then he says in verse 7, that the trial of your faith, not does God know what temptations do to people? Yes, he does. The Bible says he was tempted in all points like as we, but yet without sin.

Christ never sinned. But you and I, we still have an old sinful nature and it’s so easy for us to be led astray. He says, but this, that the trial of your faith being much more precious than a goal that perishes, though it would be tried with fire might be found under praise, honor, and glory at the appearance of Jesus Christ. In other words, suffer now, praise, honor, and glory later. That’s choice. By suffer now, praise, honor, and glory later.

Get the sequence. Suffer first. Just like work. Do they pay you before you work? Generally they want to work before they pay you. You You have to suffer and end the glory. God says, you work now, I’ll pay you later. So we work believing that. Trusting God. Well, can you trust God? I think so. Now, look there in verse 11. Verse 11 of chapter 1. Talking about the Old Testament saints, they studied the scriptures. God used them to write the scriptures.

many of them never understood what they wrote. And so they would not only write them as God told them what to write, then they sit down and studied, searched the scriptures to find it. What does it mean? So in verse 11, says, searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify when it testified beforehand and get these two statements, the sufferings of Christ, glory that should follow. So first of all, Christ came and he suffered, the next time he comes back, power and great glory.

You and I should understand the sequence. You and I, while we’re here, we will suffer and later glory. But if you choose to sin now, no glory, praise, honor later. But if you will choose to suffer, what somebody does to you or the things in the world and suffer, O Lord, God will reward you for what you’ve done. The sequence is so important, but many people get sidetracked. They don’t really understand how things work. I preached a sermon years ago and I titled it because I heard it from a guy and it was called, it was from R.

G. Lee. It was payday Sunday, payday Sunday. Anybody ever heard of the sermon? It’s an oral sermon. I copied it. I used it. Oh, it was good. Payday Sunday. And you go through the old testimony showing how that God says, paid days coming and payday came and he warned payday’s coming for the good for the bad but payday’s coming but here in 1 Peter he talks about the sequence of the suffering and then tells us down here in verse 14 as obedient children not fashioning yourselves according to the formal lust in your ignorance when you didn’t know right and you let the desires of the flesh control you.

He says I don’t want that anymore. He says you need to understand verse 15 but as he which hath called you is holy, be holy in all manner of conversation or that may it word mean in your manner of behavior. Is it God’s will that you be holy? Live a holy life. That’s the will of God. Whatever it is wherever you are you’re supposed to be a holy individual. There’s no age limit on it. It doesn’t matter how young you are, how old you are, you’re to be holy.

That means you live a holy life. That means you’ve got to guard the way you think, the things that you say and do. And in the process, not everybody has that hope in the Lord. And because they don’t in this world, somebody is going to do you wrong. You’re going to do you in. Say things that hurt. What is the natural tendency if you’re hurt is to hurt back. If you sin because of that, you chose not to suffer the wrong, you’re going to make it right.

And God says you didn’t choose to suffer, you chose to sin. And the Bible says Christ was our example that when people wrong you suffer for it. You are not going to live in this life making everything right because things in life are just not fair and it’s not going to be. And so as you go down through here looking verse 16, be holy for I am holy. This is what God says that He wants us to do. Now look there in first Peter chapter 2.

First Peter chapter 2, looking verse 21. For even here unto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, who did no sin. The reason you didn’t do the sin is because you chose to suffer the consequences. You don’t mind suffering for the Lord here and being wronged and defrauded and let people do what they do if you believe that God will make it right. But see if you don’t really believe God’s gonna make it right, what are gonna be your Tennessee, you’re going to try to make it right.

And then that’s why you sin. Have you ever noticed here’s a man, here’s a wife argument. Why? Because if one of them does wrong, the other one has a tendency to want to make it right. And God’s Word says some things in here that is very revealing, but it’s to help us to understand that you can either choose in this life to suffer or to sin. If you suffer, fobelord, he’s going to reward you. If you choose to sin, he’s going to have to chase in you.

Know which one you want. There’s troubles in this life. If you suffer, you’re not going to be happy. If you sin, you’re not to be happy. So you have to have the joy knowing that if I suffer, I am going to be taken care of by the Lord and He’ll make it right. But Christ says, the sufferings of Christ, the glory that should follow, that follows. Then He makes a statement in Romans in chapter 8 that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be here after.

So whatever it is you suffer from the Lord. It’s going to be worth the glory. It’s going to be so much better over here for whatever you went through. But can you trust God? Can you believe that? This is what makes the difference in a person’s testimony. If you react exactly like the world reacts, then what difference will you make? This is why chapter three, and we’ll look at just a minute, is so important for people to understand the basis of all life.

this because you are going to suffer. Now let me show you this first off. Look in verse 23, who when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened not but committed himself to him that judgeeth right to the reason that Jesus Christ didn’t have to fight back the sin against anybody is because he had committed this problem to God, His heavenly Father, trusted that. He was totally dependent upon the Father, taking care of Him. And therefore He didn’t have to sin.

He never yielded any sin. And He says that He is an example. Are people going to wrong you? Even you were going to wrong you. You will lie to yourself. You will deceive yourself. And people will also do the same thing and you will do it to other people. But there’s evil in this world. And you have a sinful nature. Now I want you to take your Bible look there in 1 Peter and chapter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4.

Look now in verse 2. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 2. That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men but to the will of God. You have a choice. You can live the rest of your life either to the lust of men or to the will of God. So which one? Choices that you have to make. To have a difference, to make a difference. Now chapter 3, chapter 3. Then He makes a statement here in verse 18, for Christ also hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust.

Here you are and you are the person that’s trying to do what’s right. You’re the just. Someone is trying to do something to you that’s unjust. Christ says the just suffers because of them and for them. So will you allow somebody else to wrong you without sinning back against them? That’s the game. You see, God will not stop people from wrong mean you. He doesn’t do that. God doesn’t stop that. You are not to retaliate. Have you ever watched anybody, whether it’s Raxlyn or whatever in life and football, it’s the guy who sometimes retaliates, he gets always caught and he gets kicked out of the game because he was, well, he hit me first.

And how many times a boys and girls brothers and sisters got into a fight, he started it. it sometimes doesn’t matter who started it. It’s usually the second guy that retaliates, he gets caught and gets in trouble. Just use the experiences of life. It’s true. But God says, you and God’s the one that’s overseeing this one. He is the righteous judge. Christ committed all of this and the wrong of him. He committed to God, to the one that judges righteously and can trust that.

You and I have problem with that because we are not sure if God’s really gonna step in and take care of things. So we’re willing to take you have no idea. When I was young and I had I was just 18 I trusted Christ in my Savior. How easy it was for me. I’d want to just death. I didn’t care if I lost or not. Didn’t matter. I would fight. Leon remembers the day that I got in a fight with a guy that was twice as big as me.

When I got my nose broke. I don’t know if you were there that night, but he wasn’t supposed to come into the meeting. But anyway, I was 17 and a half or something like that, and in a word, this guy was one big mean dude. He just got out of a chain game and working on a rock pile and he was one big massive man. But we would fight. When I was in school, I thought just about all the time you said, I fight.

I never started a fight, but I was always in them. Did you always win? No, I never won all the fights. I got beat up bad. But we fought. Always fight him. But that’s not the way God intended us to solve our problems. Now, he makes a statement here that just for the unjust and get the reason. Why did he do it? that he might bring us to God. He did it that he might bring us to God. Okay, now here you are.

Somebody wrongs you. Did you know if you wrong them back, it’s very hard to witness to them isn’t it? Isn’t it very difficult to give them a heaven track and tell them how much God loves them after you just chew them out and hit them or whatever they custom out. You can’t do it. Or if you give your waitress a big bad time, it’s hard to leave them a track. It’s better to try to figure out a way how can I be used by God to bring this person to God.

Am I willing to suffer the consequences? Even if they say something, they’re trying to get me right up, make me mad, whatever you do. But remember, people don’t make you mad. You choose to get mad mad is that’s a choice We just don’t like it when we lose control of ourselves or someone gets the best of us It’s always you did this you made me mad You chose to get mad just like there was a problem up there. I just heard it on the news last night I guess it was really ugly and turned bad and I Guess a neo-Nazis was up there and the next thing you know some gang came out of you know It doesn’t matter what the first one is.

You can’t recaliate this way again. Now, what if everybody had applied the Christian method? The Lord’s way. Well, one or two things. One that wouldn’t have been those skinheads doing what they were doing. And then the other, they wouldn’t have been doing what they were doing. But people because they do not control the flesh. Next thing you know, anger controlled and it doesn’t matter. Think of those stones at the place. Just try to destroy our emergency vehicle and all the things that they do.

And then rob and then you know break into buildings and all that. What’s that got to do with them? What’s all that for? And yet they do it all over the world. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are. People respond pretty good because you got an old sinful nature. People are pretty much the same way. And that’s the the shambish because they have no control. And they don’t believe what this book is teaching. They don’t believe that there’s a righteous judge that one day will take care of everything.

Now, does that mean that nobody should ever protect themselves? No, I’m not a pacifist. I believe very strongly in protecting myself. And I’ll preach on that at another time, maybe like Memorial Day or the Fourth of July. And you need to get both sides of the coin. because he made this statement, I am the just suffering for the unjust that I might bring them to God. Now look there in chapter 3 verse 1, now he’s talking about likewise ye wise.

See that? Look in verse 7, likewise ye husbands. And then In chapter 5 and verse 5 it says likewise, you’re younger. The first time he started off with Christ. Likewise, Christ when he suffered. So we have something that’s really good for us as an example of why we should choose to suffer rather than to sin. If your husband do you wrong, should you do him wrong back? The wife do you wrong? Should you do that person wrong back? Choose to sin or you choose to suffer.

It’s a choice. But if you’ll suffer the damage, the hurt and commit it to God, then don’t send back. So the Bible says be angry and send not because there’s many times you can get angry because of what somebody does it so wrong, but make sure you don’t use that as justification to sin against the person. You see, regardless of what say the neo-Nazi was doing of that, it’s not justification for somebody else to do wrong. Wrong is still wrong.

And too wrong they say don’t make a right, then it doesn’t. Likewise, he says, you wived. Now get the point here. He says, you wived, be in subjection to your own husbands. And the reason is because in the marriage situation, whether we lack it or we don’t like it, let me just take the facts. There’s a war almost all the time going on between the battle of minds. It would be great if everybody was just super-duper Christians and totally submission and all that.

But it doesn’t work that away because we have two individuals that comes together and mom and dad are not perfect. Never use mom and dad in their false is justification for your own. But a husband and a wife, there’s there’s complications at times, disagreements at times. And the Bible tells us there’s something here that the wife can do to reach the husband if she’s willing to suffer. Down in verse 7 it talks about the husband and there’s things that he must be willing to suffer because marriage causes a lot of suffering.

They say when you get married there’s three rings, the engagement ring, the wedding ring and the suffering. So there’s things that are going to happen in marriages as time goes on. The honeymoon does not last forever. But because of the testimony that is so important for a married family, a Christian home to hell, it’s important that each one understand how to deal with the conflict. How do you solve the problem? You can either choose to suffer or you can choose to sin.

We can’t go back into all the past. You can’t correct everything has ever been done. Sometimes you have to just, look, let’s just forgive everything, let’s just start over, Christ can go from here, whatever. But every person somewhere along the line in most homes sooner or later will have the difficulty and must make decisions. Even sometimes and the most sweetest godliness of homes, things are not always at their appear to be. Because many times nobody wants anybody else to know if they’re having a problem.

Generally a woman will seek counseling where the man will deny that he even needs it or that he didn’t have the problem. That’s just the nature of the beast because that’s the way men are. The wife wants to know directions and the man I’ll find it sooner or later because he don’t like to give up and to give in and admit he don’t know where he is. I’m not lost the world is. I know where I am nobody else knows where they are.

But notice what he says in verse 1, likewise you wise be in subjection to your own husband that if any obey not the word you have a husband that doesn’t obey the word and I have lived long enough and had churches long enough and seen people on us that know that many times it is the woman that’s trying to get the family to do right that tries to get the kids and tries to get her husband and many times I’ve seen where the the wife sometimes will come and the husband never does never takes the stand that he should and it’s hard and it’s difficult to form them trying to do what’s right and they’re They’re fighting like a losing battle and they can’t make them.

So what can they do? So they suffer sometimes consequences. 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, 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 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 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.

Now the reason that Jesus Christ only came into the world wants to pay for sin is because man only has to die once. So if he died for me, he only had to die once. Because I’m only gonna die one time as far as in this world is concerned. I’m gonna die one time. Physical death, God gave to John a vision of the last judgment. So take your Bible-looking Revelation, chapter 20. So that means that a person who is gonna stand at this great white throne judgment needs to be getting prepared because you need to have and to bring with you all the evidence that you have that can justify God not condemning you because that’s what it’s going to be about.

So as you live, you might want to try to remember since you’re not going to trust Christ as your Savior, you’re going to have to defend yourself in court. Now see you’re not going to have some, the paramecing thing going to be there for you. You’re going to be there and you will have only you and your good works and what you say and think and what you’ve done as the evidence to either clear you or condemn you. It’s going to be one way or the other.

And by the way I thought I’d just throw this out. You You better not have one thing against you. Because see it won’t take 10 things against you. All God needs is just one little piece of evidence. All God has to do is prove that you’re not perfect. You’ll have to prove you are. Because see heaven is perfect and you’ve got to be perfect to go there. So you better be ready and prepare your case because you have a date with destiny.

You got a date with God. And you’re going to make that appointment. So it’s an appointed time. It’s appointed every man. Revelation chapter 20 and look in verse 11. I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it from who faced the earth and the heavens fled away, there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.

And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to the works. And the sea gave up the dead, which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead, which were in them. And they were judged every man according to their works, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast in to the lake of fire.

The setting, what are we going to have there? Well the setting is this. It’s called the Great White Throne. So it’s going to be a great judgment. not a little bity-dinky thing, this is the biggest judgment of all time. God even says that the Christians are going to judge the angels and set in judgment upon the lost man in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 6. It’s great because of its power. It’s white because of its purity. And the throne, well that pales you the purpose of it.

There’s a judgment going to take place. Now at this judgment it is the judgment of the unsaved dead. You see there’s not many people from Adam and Eve all the way down that have died that have never trusted Christ as their Savior. You see those who trust Christ as Savior, acts in from the body present with the Lord. So whenever we die we go to be with the Lord. But the lost man, the person who does not trust Christ as Savior, Well, it’s not the same for them.

They go to a place called Hades in the New Testament Greek Old Testament called Sheol, but it’s the place of the departed them a place of torment It’s not the final hell So when he says death and hell delivered up the dead is talking about death delivered up the bodies and hell delivered up the souls Because at this one there is what we call the summons where God summons the bodies from the grave and the souls out of hell, and they will stand at the great white throne judgment.

At this judgment, it is an awful place. It’s an awful place because there are sinners standing before God. is perfect and God is righteous, but a man is going to meet his maker. In the old testament put it this way, he says, prepare to meet thy God. You and I are one day going to see the Lord face to face, but that will be at the judgment seat of Christ when we’ll literally get to see the face of God.

Wouldn’t that be something for for Tom and for Tad, the first one they ever see will be the face of the Lord. I had to look at y’all. They’ll get to see the Lord first. But it’s an awful place because the sinner has got to stand before a perfect righteous holy God. Can you imagine how uncomfortable people are going to church? How uncomfortable they are reading the Bible Or have you ever seen anybody really get uncomfortable when you want to talk to them about how to have eternal life and go to heaven when they die?

Just think of all those, and they don’t even want to be there. They don’t want to be there. It’s an awful place for them, but this is where they’re going to be. It is an awesome person that they’re going to have to come face to face. This is God, but I want you to take your Bible look there in the book of John chapter 5, the gospel of John and chapter 5. We often say that, you know, there’s God and He’s going to be there and He will be there.

But I believe the one that’s going to do the judging is going to be Jesus Christ Himself. And here’s the reason. In John chapter 5, looking verse 22 and the Father and the Father, judge of no man, but have committed all judgment under the Son. The Son is going to be judging. And He is God. And this is when everyone is going to realize, you know, he says in the book of Philippians in chapter 2 that God had highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name.

That is the name of Jesus. You know, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He is the Lord to the glory of God the Father. Every knee will bow. Now you and I have already accepted Him as our Savior. We know He’s God. We’ve already accepted that as a fact. But there’s a world out there that doesn’t believe that. But when life is all over, God says the rest of them are going to bow. But it will be too late.

You see, you can accept him as your Savior now, but he’s going to be your judge later. And at the judgment of there will be no mercy. There will be no mercy. And this is what he wants everyone to recognize. This is who I am. When they ask, who are you? I am. I am a God.” And that’s who he was. It’s also going to be a very awkward moment because that’s an awkward position. You see what? They don’t want to be there.

They don’t want to be there. But they’re there and they got to stand whether they like it or not. We have probably, and there’s a possibility. There could be sitting in this church right now, an individual who does not believe that there is a God. Or don’t believe that it applies to them. Or it’s not going to be that bad. But they ought to listen to what God said. It is going to be that bad. Hell is going to be hot.

And eternity is going to be that bad. long and that there will be no escape and yet it doesn’t have to end that way because God says that he saw love the world. That means everybody in the world. He’s already made a payment for the sins of the whole world and all they have to do. The only thing they can do is believe that Jesus Christ did it for them. So Revelation in chapter 20 says, and there was no place found for them.

They didn’t belong there. They don’t belong in heaven. And hell was actually created for the Devilman’s Angels. You say, well, when we go to hell, you know, I’ll see Bob over there in Frank and George and Peter Amato, and you know, I just see all those people. And so you say, well, I’ll see all those people there. No, you see, hell is dark. There is no light there. He says, they’re like in the midst of darkness forever. I don’t know if you’ll hear, but you won’t be able to see darkness forever in hell.

Now I want you to see there in verse 12. This is the summons to them chapter 20 and verse 12. I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. those three little words stand before God. They’re gonna meet their maker. They’re gonna meet God. They’re gonna stand before God. And he says, small and great. It doesn’t matter whether or not you were rich or whether you were poor. Whether you had a lot, you had a little. Whether you were somebody or a nobody.

Big shot, little shot. You’re all gonna stand there. Down here, you can buy you away out of a lot of things. Get away with murder. And a lot of people do. But with him, you won’t get away with anything. And there’s four categories, I believe, achievers of some people that are going to be there. And that’s those that are totally rebellious. To any truth, don’t believe in God. Don’t bother me with God. My mind’s He’s made up. He don’t even exist.

Like as one of the boys said to his dad, Dad, do you think God’s going to get mad because we don’t believe in him? You see, you know there’s a God. If there is no God, why you fight him? He don’t exist. But he does exist. The self-righteous people, so who’s the self-righteous people? Well, the do-gooders. You see, human goodness is the worst form of evil when it’s used as a substitute for salvation. I’ll repeat that statement. Human goodness is the worst form of evil when it’s used as a substitute for salvation.

And there’s a lot of people who are trying to do good deeds. Those good deeds is an evil thing to trust in when salvation is free. But there’ll be people there because they think they were good enough to make it on their own. And they’re gonna bring up all those good things that they did, kind of like the third group. And that’s that self-righteous, hypocritical person that’s religious but lost. They go to church. They give money. They pray. They do all the good deeds.

The only thing they haven’t done was trust Christ as their savior. And so there’s people who are gonna be greatly surprised whenever they let us in. Or say, I don’t know you. I don’t know you. Depart from me, you that work iniquity. Because they were trusting in their good deeds to get them to heaven. And God says that no amount of good deeds can ever save a person. It’s a shame, but a lot of people just don’t get it.

Then you have the centers that know that they’re centers, but they plan to get saved someday. And they think that if they become a Christian, they won’t have any fun in life. So they want to do all their sinning and right before they die, they say, okay, well, I’m old and grey and I can’t do anything. I ain’t no good to the world. Anyway, I’ll trust the Lord now. Well, that’s great if you can know that you lived to that length of time and you’ll have that chance at that time and if you’ll think that way at that time, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

People that are intending to get right with the Lord. And sometimes they don’t even know what that get right means. I’m gonna get right, I’m gonna start going to church. I’m gonna start doing right. Well, you don’t have to do right to go to heaven. Only thing you can do is trust Christ as your Savior. He’s already died and paid for your sins on the ground. You can’t get around Christ. You can’t get to heaven and you can’t get to the Father except through the Son.

And if you reject the Son, you don’t get to go to heaven. You see, God didn’t leave it up to you and I to devise a way to get there. That’s chapter 17. There’s a statement made here that I believe is very important. He says in verse 31, because he, God, hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world. Now look up here. And it just say that God hath appointed a day in which He’s going to judge the world.

He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, where he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead. In other words, this is true because he came back from the dead. He came back from the dead. And that’s the one that’s going to be the judge, the one that came back from the dead. And he’s going to judge the world. Get the last part of that. He had given assurance on all men in that he had raised him from the dead.

And when they heard about the resurrection, they began to mock. You can’t hold court if the judge is dead, and you can’t hold court if the defendants is dead. Or if you got to go to court next Monday and you died on Sunday, you don’t have to show up. Did you know that? So what God did is He sent out a summons and He summoned all the dead, brought them back to life and is going to have them up here at this great, quite-thrown judgment and they’re going to be judged.

Look in Romans chapter 2 and verse 16. Romans chapter 2 and verse 16. The secrets will be revealed. The secrets will be revealed. You see, there’s a lot of things that the lost men have done They think nobody knows, nobody knows. God says in one place, that which was done in secret will be shouted from the housetop. And that which was covered shall be uncovered. And here in Romans 2 in verse 16, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men.

Get this, God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. See, God’s the judge, But he does the judging through his son. And he says, there’s secrets that men have. Or wouldn’t it be a terrible thing if God could pull down of that screen and show everybody everything you think there’d be a mass accident out of this room. And I’d be first.

And if I couldn’t get to that door, I’d go to that door over there. You see, there is no door over there. there will be one. But you be surprised. There’s things that you have thought about. There’s probably things you’ve done that nobody else knows about. And see, there’s people that need to understand God says every man shall be judged according to what he’s done. Look there in verse two of this same chapter. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to what?

According to truth. Look in verse 6, who shall render to every man according to his deeds. verse 11, for there is no respect of persons with God. Now, so God says there’s a judgment coming and every person is going to stand at this judgment. For the lost man, he’s going to find out how much punishment he’s going to receive in hell, because of truth and light that he rejected, rebelled against. You and I, see, we stand at the judgment seat of Christ.

That is a rewarding stand for us. But I do believe that the judgments in the Christ, even for God’s people, there’s going to be tears shed when we see what we could have done, when we see rewards that we could have had, when we see positions that we could have ruled and rained with Christ and we forfeited them because we didn’t think it was important. But that’s for the believer. But that doesn’t determine our destination. Our destination was determined by our belief that Christ paid for our sins.

This is not to determine their destination. All of those who stand here and are judged here are cast into the lake of fire. This is to determine the amount of punishment they see in hell. Hours was to determine the amount of rewards we receive with the Lord. The books were opened. God is even at this very moment photographing this service. Now we have Roger up there and he’s photographing everything that I’m saying. People anywhere in the world, if they got a computer, can watch what we’re saying and doing right now.

If man can do that, don’t you think God can? God says he knows every thought. Every word, every deed. All of your acts and all of your motives. On every person, from the time you were born, the books were opened. The next thing I want to mention to you is this. There is the sureness of this judgment. They were judged. They were judged. The judge bid if it says they’re going to be judged according to their works and then it renders a verdict, then And God did look at the evidence.

And God did make a decision. And it’s a sure thing. And his decision is final. This lady went to have her picture made. Looked just like her. She didn’t like it. So she took it back. She says, this picture does not do me justice. He said, ma’am, you don’t need justice. You need mercy. There’s three great words in the Bible. three great words in the Bible. And one is mercy. You’ve heard about mercy. Mercy is not getting what you deserve.

You see, we’ve all sinned. We deserve to spend the eternity in a literal fire burning hell, a place of God, in a lake of fire. That’s what we deserve. Because we’ve all sinned against a holy God. God is perfect. He’s righteous. He has every right, he could do this. But not getting what we deserve, that’s mercy. That’s why we want God’s mercy. We talk about the grace of God. It means that there’s a wonderful place called heaven and the holy city that I don’t deserve this.

But for God to give me that, that’s grace. I’m getting something I don’t deserve. Now, justice is getting what you deserve. At the Great White Throne Judgment, there is no mercy, there is no grace, but there will be justice. And if a person rejects the mercy of God now and rejects the grace of God now, he will have the judgment of God upon Him, and that will be justice later. Prepare to defend yourself, because if you lose, there is no court of appeals.

In closing, every person, especially the lost man, needs to understand this. They have a date with destiny. They’ve got a date with deity. They’ve got a date with the second death because he says here in the book of Revelation. In chapter 20, death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. The book of life is the Lamb’s book of life.

The Lamb’s book of life is the one that you’re born into by faith in Christ. When you trust Christ as your Savior, your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. Look up here. If you’re here this morning and if you have not trusted Christ as your Savior, you have an appointment with God, a date with deity. You’re going to meet the Lord. And God says He’s going to judge your works. And those are your evidence what you’ve thought, what you’ve said, what you’ve done, by the evidence that’s going to be presented, are you able to win in court against God?

Because if you can’t convince God by the evidence that you’ve never sinned, it will not matter how much good you’ve done. Did you ever sin one time if you did, you’re lost. And you cannot save yourself. And that judgment, there will be no more mercy, and there will be no more grace, only justice. You’re going to get what you deserve. I don’t want what I deserve. That’s why 49 years ago, sitting in the little living room in the happens, Georgia, I wanted God’s mercy.

I didn’t want to go to hell. I wanted God’s grace. I want to go to heaven. And it made more sense to me than anything I’ve ever heard in my whole life. So that night I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior. I was 18 years old. This man represents you and me and the wall of represents sin. We all have sin upon us. Now God says he loves us, but he hates our sin. And for us to pay for sin, eternal separation from God.

And since we’re all sinners, we’re all in the same boat, we’re all condemned. And God says you cannot earn eternal life, you cannot work your way to heaven. It’s not by your good deeds. You see, heaven is perfect. And you have to be perfect to go there. Well, we’re not. So Jesus Christ, God’s Son, came into this world because He loves us. So he took our sins, paid for them on the cross, and came back from the dead. Now the issue is not about your sins.

He already took care of that issue. Now is will you accept it or will you reject it? You see, I’m not better than anybody else. I believe he did it for me. And if you’ll believe it, then he’ll save you too. So when I believe he did it for me, he put this payment to my account. When you believe it, he’ll put it to your account. and you get to go to heaven on what Christ did. So see right now, you can trust Christ as your Savior and you don’t get to go to hell.

That’s mercy. You get to go to heaven, that’s grace. But if you reject God’s grace, there is no way to be saved. Cause He says for by grace are you saved? Through faith that not of yourself, it is the gift of God not of works, lest any man should boast. No man can save himself by his works. by grace and grace alone. Let’s pray, Sean. 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, 3-3-6-3-4. 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 oftampa.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.

Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calbra 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 us He was told 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.

We hate and despise the sinful nature that dwells in our body. The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. while we’re in the body, we’re not to let the flesh control us.” Now here in Romans in chapter 9, look down there in verse 8, in verse 8, that is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. There’s been many times when I’ve listened to preachers, especially on the radio, because I don’t go to many meetings where the preachers or that liberal.

And so they would talk about how that, and you can listen to sometime on radio and TV, and people are talking about, you know, everybody’s a child of God. Well, the Bible says that everybody is not the child of God. Well, who isn’t? Who isn’t? All those that are children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. The only ones that are a child of God are those that are trusted Christ as their Savior. When I was given devotion for the high school football teams down in Florida.

And I remember that they would always get together in the field and they would get together in the huddle and they would quote the Lord’s Prayer. This is one of the things they would do. They’d always get here, our Father which art in heaven, Hallo B. Thy name, Dike in comes on. And they would quote the Lord’s Prayer. And so when I got to give devotions and one of the get mad meetings, and this is the night before the game, I said I noticed that a lot of y’all do this.

And I says, and y’all all start off our father, which art in heaven. I says, did you know if you’ve never been born again, God is not your father. You’re not his child. But I believe you have good intentions. So let me explain it to you so that the next time you have the devotions on the field and you quote the Lord’s prayer, when you say our father, you could say, my father. He’s my father, because you’re his child.

So then I explained the gospel to them. Had a lot of people trust Christ of Savior. I thought, man, that went over pretty good. So I went to the next meeting to have, and they had about 80 of the football players in the stands. And the coach wouldn’t even let him go and get on the buses to go to the football field. This was still in the gymnasium, I should say. And he had him wait right there until I got there and I gave devotions.

And so I gave the devotions and I could tell more about how many didn’t raise their hand. And there was about five or six or so that didn’t raise their hand. All the rest of them raised their hand to trust Christ’s Savior. That was an awesome time where you could go into the high schools and preach the gospel. I got into, I don’t know how many schools. And I would get into the English class. You name the class, you could get into it.

It didn’t matter what it was. I’d give the gospel. And give it, teach the hand gesture. an invitation right in the classroom. Teachers standing around the wall in rooms of packed with people. They bring other classes and they all stand there and just watch. And you taught with authority. I asked what I know. You can’t even get in there now. But see, there was a time where the kids in the world were better testimonies than Christian kids are today.

The lost kids had higher standards than Christians have today. And that’s not a joke. But they did. They had higher standard, greater morality than Christians that go to church and supposedly be the somebody who is cream of the crop. I don’t know if it’s cream of the crop, but scum rises to the top too. But anyway here he makes a statement, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. These are truths that you should have burned into your mind so that you always know this.

Now turn into 1 Corinthians in chapter 15. 1 Corinthians. And the first Corinthians, there is a teaching there about the first, the second, the first, the second, and first Corinthians 15 you notice their inverse 47, the first man is on the earth, and that was Adam, Well, if you’re born after the first man, Adam upon the earth, then you’re going to be like him. That’s the flesh. That’s why you’re like that. That’s why you have a sinful nature. That’s why it doesn’t matter where the people are on the whole face of the earth.

The raised issue has nothing to do with it. Everybody has an owe sinful nature. Everybody’s capable of committing the same kind of sins. Everybody gets mad and angry and jealous. Everybody gets filled with pride and bitterness and all that. And everybody’s capable of loving their kids and getting married and everybody’s capable of same things. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are. But he says, the second Adam, the second man is the Lord from heaven. So if you’re born from the Lord from heaven and he was perfect, then your second birth would be what?

Be perfect, just like God. So your new birth that you have, yes, you have been made perfect. That’s why to go to heaven, you have to be perfect. And you’re not perfect in the flesh. when you look at me, if I look at you, I know that there’s two of you. There’s the flesh and there’s the Spirit. Your Spirit is created perfect, created in righteousness, cannot commit a sin because it has no sinful nature. It’s born of God. Well, your flesh was born of the Adam, the first man, so therefore you have a sinful nature and you can still sin.

And so whenever you try to judge whether you know people are saved or lost by how they live, blow your mind. Why? Because a Christian can live like the devil and a person who’s a saint, he could go to church and read the Bible and pray and do all the good things and he said, well that man’s a Christian and where are you judging by? Well the way he lives. Yeah but what next week he lives the other way and the next week he lives another way.

Next week he lives another way. It blow your mind. Aren’t you glad your destination doesn’t depend upon somebody’s judgment about how you lived? Whether or not they think you’re a Christian or not? He says, you shall judge them by their fruit, talking about the lost man, is talking about the wolf in sheep’s clothing, the false prophet, and you judge them not by the way they live but the things they say, their testimony, the fruit of their lips. And that’s another sermon.

But here in this verse, 1 Corinthians in chapter 15, look down there now in verse 49, looking verse 49. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. While we’re here in this world, we still have our physical body. So I bear the image of the earthly family. You trust that Christ is your Savior and when you leave this world, you’re going to have a body like His body and His body is a perfect body and and he can walk through walls.

He can appear and disappear at will. I can’t wait. I think that’d be a lot of fun. But there’s no sinful desires and the new body that you’re gonna get. And so you’re gonna have all these new things because you’re gonna bear the image of, I have on the Father. And he made this statement, it if not yet appear what we shall be, but when he shall appear, we know we shall be like him, but we shall see him as he is.

So we’re going to be like the Lord. So you’re going to get a new body in order to live forever, and it won’t have a sinful nature, but you will have the same characteristics of the way you are. Now, at what age, I don’t know, but don’t worry, when y’all get to heaven, you’re not going to, I don’t think y’all are going to be running with gray hair and bifocals and not that. You’re perfect. And when somebody sees you, you’re perfect, whatever you look like, I don’t know what we’re going to look like.

Well, I wish you to tell me when I was young, I look better when I was young. Don’t worry about it. God will take care of everything. And you’re going to bear that in me. Now look in verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, flesh, blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither death corruption inherit in corruption. Neither death corruption inherit in corruption. The flesh cannot inherit that which lasts forever because the flesh won’t last for Why gives something that lasts forever to that which will not last forever?

It doesn’t make any sense. So it won’t happen that way. So The flesh birth cannot inherit the things of God. It cannot inherit eternal life. It can’t have it So keep this verse in mind. No words found That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God neither death corruption inherit in corruption Now it talks about in the following verses, we won’t get into that this morning, about yes, we’re going to be changed. And see there in that verse 51, we should not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.

We sung a song the other day with the choir. We’ve been changed. I’ve been changed something like that. I forget the name of it now. But yes, we’ve been changed, but we’re really going to be changed later. That hasn’t all took place yet. Now, look in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Turn to your left. 1 Corinthians and chapter 6. These verses, I’ve heard them totally mutilated by many people who don’t understand the teaching of the two natures of the two verse.

But remember, these doctrinal truths are simply illustrated by those stories. in the Old Testament, so did they understand all this? I don’t know how much they understood. I wasn’t there. But I know they got the stories and whether or not they understood from that, these doctrinal issues, I don’t know. But the Bible says in the book of Corinthians in chapter, excuse me, Romans 15, that study and read and search the Old Testament scriptures, he says, because they were written for our learning, for our admonition that we may learn to have our hope in the Lord.

So look in verse nine, no ye not, no ye not. Now the words no ye not is mentioned in verse two where it says no ye not. Verse three it says no ye not. Verse nine, no ye not. And verse 16, no ye not. Verse 19, no ye not. In other words, there’s so many things that Christians do not know, but they should know. And we should understand them because they’re the simple basic teachings of Bible doctrine. in verse nine, no you not or don’t you know that the unrighteousness shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived. Neither foreignicators, nor idolaters, nor idolaters, nor feminine, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkers, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. Now many people say, well see that if you do those things then that means you can’t go to heaven. Well, that just about includes everybody in the whole world, not covetors. Well, you say, I didn’t murder nobody. Yeah, but I did, you do the other.

These are things that everybody in the world is capable of doing. This is the unrighteous, shall not inherit, don’t inherit it. You can’t earn it, but you don’t inherit it either. That’s the flesh. God never promised those things to the flesh. The first birth. That’s why you have to be born again. God promised all these things to those that become his child. Now get what he says here. These various things that mentions here are simply the works of the flesh.

These are names that are given to the people that do these things and they’re of the flesh. So he says now in verse 11 and such were some of you, but you are washed. Now get the you are, you are, you are. This is your present condition. You are washed, you are sanctified, made pure and holy, you are justified, you’ve been declared righteous in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. In other words, not because of your works or anything that you did, you trusted Christ as your Savior and because of that you were in the flesh, you were unrighteous.

That’s how you’re seeing. It’s a class of people. You’re in the flesh. Now you are washed. You are justified. You are sanctified. This is your present condition and that condition will never change. These things he mentioned here does not change. That’s why it’s good to understand them. So when he says that they shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Well, I’ve heard preachers say, well, look, man, you do these things here And you’re not going to heaven when you die because it says you cannot inherit the kingdom God.

Well the flesh never could never has never will. But I’ve got two births my flesh birth never will inherit anything of God. And it is condemned it is corruptible. But it’s the new birth that’s born of God. This one doesn’t have a sinful nature. This one is wise justified clean sanctified pasteurized homogenized and going to heaven. All right. Now take your Bible and look there in the Galatians in chapter 5. Galatians in chapter 5. These are simple things but I remember one time when I preached a sermon on this and some people were having a camp Ira Haji in the mountains of Colorado and I guess I might have been about 28 years old something like that and they invited me to come up there and speak and they were having like a deeper life conference and I never went to a deeper life and they were trying to

get into the deeper truths of the Word of God. And well, I’d never been into one of those and I listened to the people trying to explain the two natures and how the identification truths found in Romans chapter 6, how that you identify with Christ. And they went all around it, but by the time I got to it, they couldn’t make it clear. And I thought these are old saints and these guys were 40, 50 years old, been preaching for a long time, trying to make it simple.

And the best they could do was totally confusing to me. And I thought, Ray Stanford taught us this same stuff. And he taught it in ranch to teenagers. The teenagers knew this stuff. The kids that went to college the first year, they learned those simple things. And you have to just make it simple and make it clear, these so-called identification truth. And once we understood them, they asked me if I would speak, and I got up in a nice speak, and I used the illustration with the two arms and all the straight in the tuber.

And the guy’s coming to me and says, man, how in the world do you ever learn that? I’ve never heard such deep truths explain like that before. And I thought, this is what every child of God I don’t understand, not just deeper life for those saints of 50, 60 years. These are things that every child of God ought to learn as soon as possible about, look, you’ve got two natures. And this is why you do this, and this is why you do this.

This is why you wanna do this, and this is why you wanna do this. And they fight all the time. And I heard an article I read it one time about on Indian, trying to explain the two natures. He says like having a white dog and black dog inside of you, and they always fightin’. Somebody said, well, which one wins? He says, when I say sick them to, if I say sick them, that’s the one that’s gonna win. To buy the way it is.

Look in verse 16 of chapter five. This I say then, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. If you walk in the spirit, then you, see, you’re doing that which is positive, then you don’t have time to do that which is negative. You can’t do exactly two things exactly at the same time. I’ve always said that, but there’s women can do four or five, six things at the same time. I still can’t.

I can think of one thought at the time, then I can think of another thought, and then another thought, and then another thought. But women can think of all kind of thoughts all at the same time, and they can carry on, listen, come. They must have two brains, not just one, two or three. And it’s amazing. When we get to heaven, we’ll totally, have you ever heard of a man down here saying something stupid like, I understand women? A man in his right mind never says that.

I understand women not in his right mind you don’t say that that’s one of the great mysteries when we get to heaven God’s gonna reveal things to us said this is how I made her and this is why I did it some guy says he’s talking to his wife and she’s a blonde he says he said why why did God make you so beautiful and yet so dumb she says he made me beautiful so you’d like me and made me dumb so I like you.

Here in chapter 17, 18 and 19 and 20 are the works of the flesh again. But notice in verse 21, Indian murders drunkenness reveling such life, of the which I tell you before, as I’ve told you in timespan that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Now the only one that can do this, see look up here, the new birth cannot perform or do any of the works of the flesh. New New birth can’t do that because that would be sin.

He has no sinful nature. The new birth has no sinful nature. The new birth cannot do these things. When he says they which do such things is always a reference to the flesh. Your first birth can do all of those things. Remember there is a separation from these two. This one inherits all the things of God because it is created by God. It is perfect as holy is just has no sinful nature and this one doesn’t inherit anything from this one.

Can’t get it. It lies. It chees and deceives. Cause you live in fear. This one only trusts the Father. And Christ says, I do always those things that please the Father. So you have these works of the flesh. So whenever you see and somebody wants to throw up like verse 21 or chapter 6 over there in 1 Corinthians, don’t be afraid of those verses, just understand that we’re talking about the old sinful nature. And it can inherit the kingdom of God.

Now, I want you to go there to Galatians in chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. Look in verse 26. You ought to underline verse 26. It’s an awesome verse. Verse 26 says, For ye are all the children of God. Stop right there. See that’s as far as some people will read. The Bible says you’re all the children of God. Does it say that? It says that. But you need to read the rest of the verse by faith in Christ Jesus.

Your faith in Christ makes you his child. All of us are the children of God by faith in Christ. But if you’re not putting your faith in Christ, you’re not a child of God. Now look what else he says. as Looking Verse 29. And if you be Christ, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise? We’re heirs of the promise. Of things that God promised to them are also promised to us. But remember, we’re part of a different dispensation.

So we’ll get some of the things and we’ll get things that they won’t get. And that’s a different message. Now look there in verse 6 of chapter 4. Verse 6 says, and because ye are sons, because you are, God have sent forth the spirit of his son into your heart’s cryin’ Abba Father, like sayin’ Daddy. A child sayin’ Daddy to God, God is my dad, he’s my father. And we can understand that because of the earthly relationship between a son and a father.

Now I want you to see there in verse 4, for when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, down in verse 6, sent forth the spirit. See Christ came to do a job, the Holy Spirit came to do a job. That’s why he says you must be born of the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that quickens you and gives you a spiritual birth, but he uses the Word of God to do it. So that’s why we have to sow the Word that the Holy Spirit uses the Word and it’s placed into the person’s heart where they can hear it and see it and believe it.

And when I believe it, a new birth is performed. That’s a miracle birth born by the Word of God, by the Spirit of God. Now get the last part of it, verse 7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son. Not a servant, but a son. You were in the sense that you were just like Ishmael that was born of a slave. You were a servant, a slave. You trust Christ as your Savior and you are not a servant, a slave, you are now a son.

One is flesh, one is spirit. is Ishmael and Isaac. And Isaac, your new birth, inherits all things of God. Now, in the last part of verse 7, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Now, the new birth is of God and the Holy Spirit, and therefore you are now on the heir of God. And you inherit everything that God the Father has. All we’re waiting for is to be redeemed from this earth so that we can get our inheritance.

And I think it’s a great thing for every Christian to know, to understand, believe this is not everything. See, down here, everybody wants to make sure we have this retirement fund because the older we get, the more we are concerned about our health and we’re going to have enough money to, you know, pay for things and, you know, so far because we’re getting older. And we know the possibilities, the older we get, the body not keeping up with us on the inside of what we wanna do and where we wanna go.

And I told Leon yesterday, I said, Leon, I don’t think as fast as I used to. I don’t react as fast as I used to. I’m slower than I used to. And sometimes I can keep on my two feet. And we just get old. When you get older like that, you don’t have that mobility that you used to have. Inside, there’s a 17-year-old boy still struggling to get out of this thing. And every once in a while we want to have our little moments of glory.

That’s a very few moments. Look in Romans in chapter 8, we’re going to finish with these two verses here. Three verses. Four or five. Six or seven. Romans chapter 8, look now in verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Ah, see there? If you’re not led by the Spirit of God, then you’re not a child of God. Well that’s not what it says. The word sons of God here is not a reference to a child, but to a mature child of God.

One that’s growing in the Lord. See the Holy Spirit leads His children. And as the Holy Spirit leaves His children, then you can grow and mature in the Lord. And as many as are led by the Spirit, now the Holy Spirit will lead you, but you don’t always as a child of God. You don’t follow because the flesh will get in the way and you don’t, all Christians don’t grow at the same rate. They don’t understand the same thing.

They don’t have the same maturity. There are different levels in a Christian life. I always try to tell people, be patient with people who are now where you once were. What leads somebody to the Lord and expect them to walk is a saint of fifty years. Because a teenager led to the Lord is still going to act like a teenager. You lead a brat to the Lord and a brat’s took a night like a brat until he grows strong in the Lord.

But some people say, well, see, I knew he didn’t you say I didn’t say I didn’t know change in his life. I know he ain’t gonna make it. He I knew he wasn’t real. You don’t know nothing. You can’t tell. And little by little it’s the Holy Spirit that begins to work on the individual. He that hath begun a good work in you will perform. It’s an inside job. And always remember that a wrecking crew is using inside job.

But he says here, whereby we cry Abba Father, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit. We are the children of God, not going to be I am. And if I am a child of God, then heirs, inverse everything, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, we shall be also glorified together. So many wonderful things in these verses, and yet they’re all stemming from explaining simple little Bible stories in the Old Testament.

Awesome. Look at perfect quickly. Let this in represent you and me and the wallet represents sin. We all have sin upon us. God says that He loves us and He hates our sin. And for us 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’re all sinners. We’ve all come short of God’s perfection and to payment for this death in hell and God said we cannot save ourselves.

This end represents Jesus Christ, he is the Lord God in the place. He came into the world because he loves us. He hates our sin because it separates us from him. So Christ took the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead, said if we’ll believe he did it for us, he’d put that payment to our account and we’d get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for us. Best news in all the world.

Let’s pray, shall we? We head by a nice close and no one looking around if you have never trusted Christ as your Savior. I urge you to do so. I Don’t see anybody new But I never like it take it for granted you can hear a thousand times But make sure that you have trusted Lord that you are a child of God and because you’re a child of God you’re an heir of God Live like it act like it.

There’s things as a child of God you have inherited the right to pray the right of the Holy Spirit to teach you His Word. You see, we often talk about children’s rights and human rights and all that, but there’s rights of a Christian that you had given to you. There’s gifts that God’s given to you. The right to know what they are. The righttaboola to be able to use them in this life. So let God use them. I thought we’d thank you so much for this time together.

We had some lessons upon us in Christ’s name. Amen. 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 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, 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.

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. 776-3771. One-line donations may be made through the Bible-lined website at calbreyoftampa.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 now and turn to the book of Genesis chapter 21. Genesis chapter 21. You’ve heard me say over and over again how wonderful it is to know that we have the Old Testament stories that teach New Testament doctrine. Though the New Testament doesn’t reveal new doctrine, they’re taught in the Old Testament illustrations.

It’s just they had the stories, we’ve got the teaching. But I believe that they understood a lot more than what we think they did. Because in every one of these stories, you’ll find there’s a doctrinal truth that illustrates some wonderful teaching that God has given to us. And this is why once you understand those New Testament doctrines that we’ve covered so many times, then when you read the Old Testament, you can see where it’s coming from and it opens up the Bible.

And you can understand things that most people don’t understand because they don’t have that key, they don’t lock, so they don’t see it. And I hope that you do. Here in Genesis chapter 21, finally the day has come, been waiting a long time. The birth of Isaac. This is the miracle child, the faith child. This is the one that God says that Abraham believed God and that he staggered not at the promise of God but was strong in faith, believing.

And this is the one that gives credit to, oh yes, his wife and she believed the Lord. And now that time has come and she’s going to have a child. See there in verse 1. And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. So what he said, and what he did, was important. And this little statement right here deals with what he said and what he did. In the book of 1 John, it talks about what Christ did and what he said.

Now he said he did pay for all of our sins. So if you believe that, why can’t a person believe in eternal security? If you really believe that he paid for all of your sins, what’s the problem? And yet there’s a multitude of churches that do not teach that they have eternal life. Because see, if either Christ did what he said he did and paid for all of the sins, then if they did, then all of the sins are paid.

Then what sin is going to condemn me to hell if they’re all paid? So the penalty for my sins have been paid. And then what he said, he said that he gave me what kind of life? He turned a life. Well, if that’s what he said, then they don’t believe that he meant what he said. And when he said he will never cast you out and never lose you, they don’t believe that. They don’t believe it. They believe he will cast you out.

That he can’t lose you. You can still be lost afterwards. But they don’t believe what he did. They don’t believe what he said. And so these verses, I believe are symbolic of a New Testament doctrine. verse 2, and Sarah conceived and bear Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son, which was that was born unto him whom Sarah bear to him Isaac.

And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old as God had commanded him. And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born into him. and Sarah said, God had made me to laugh, so that all that here will laugh with me. And she says, who would have said unto Abraham that Sarah should have given children, so I have borne him a son in his old age. The highlight of every Jewish woman was to be able to bear children.

They all hoped that they would be the one that would bear the Messiah. But as time went on, God chose a different line and family and so forth and tried. But a woman wanted to have a child, and so now at her old age she had people that would rejoice with her because even in her old age she has a child. Then it says in verse 9, Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.

has the word mocking you ought to understand and write this down in the side margin of your Bible. The flesh persecutes the spirit. Remember Ishmael represents the flesh. He was a child born of a slave. So if he was born of a slave, he was a slave. He was born under the law. Even though the law had not yet been given, but it came out of Egypt, and which is a type of salvation, but Egypt is a type of the flesh.

So the Bible tells us that He mocked. In verse 10, wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bond woman shall not be heir with my son even with Isaac. The first birth cannot be heir with the second birth. The first child flesh cannot be heir with the second child spirit. Kind of get you an idea now. When you were born into the world that’s your first birth flesh. It cannot be heir with your second birth.

Your first birth cannot inherit the things of the second birth. They belong to Him. This is the miracle child. Your second birth when you trust in Christ is a miracle in itself. That’s why it’s called a faith birth. Look now in verse 11. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son. And God said in Abraham, let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad and because of by bondwoman. And all that Sarah had said under thee, harked under her voice, for in Isaac shall by seed be called God verified what Sarah said.

So Abraham had to send her away. But he says in verse 13, and also up the son of the bondwoman, will I make a nation because he is thy seed. So anyway, Abraham got up the next day and sent She was going to die and her son was going to die and God miraculously took care of them and he became a great nation. Take your Bible now and turn to the Gospel of John in chapter 1. Then when you come all the way over to the New Testament, you have the teaching about the new birth.

The reason is because the flesh cannot inherit. The flesh cannot inherit. can only inherit corruption. That’s what it gets for being born of the flesh. There’s things in this life that you are going to inherit for the first birth. The first birth has got problems. It comes with an old sinful nature and therefore you inherited that. Now look here in John chapter 1 and verse 12. Verse 12. You don’t have this verse underlying, you should underline it. But as many as received him talking about Christ to them gave he power to become the sons of God specifically to them that believe on his name which were born not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor the will of man but of God the second birth has nothing to do with the first birth it’s not the will of the flesh like I want to and

I want it bad and I worked hard I did this whatever it’s not by blood it’s not because your parents were Christians and that automatically makes you one. No, but of God. You can become a child of God by faith by receiving Him to them gave He the power to become the sons of God. Now take your Bible and look in John chapter 3, John chapter 3. Many of these verses are very familiar with you, but I want you to see them once again because we’re going to get into a few other scriptures that are very important.

Look in chapter 3 and verse John. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily I say unto thee, accept the man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God. The word he was born again means born from above. Because you were creation on the first one. This is not really a born again in that sense, but you’re born from above. So this birth is a spiritual birth. And he says here in verse three, accept the man be born again.

He cannot see the kingdom of God. Down in verse five, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. So there’s another world, another kingdom you can’t see or enter it unless you’re born of God. So the key is, of course, you must be born of God in order to see it or to enter into this new kingdom. So the first birth will not get that for you. You cannot inherit the kingdom of God. That’s why when they came to Christ says, what must I do to inherit the kingdom of God?

He said, be perfect. Well, he knew the law. He couldn’t be perfect. So it was impossible. And so the only way they said, well, that’s impossible. Who could be saved? He says, by man it is impossible. But with God it’s possible. And this is what he’s referring to. So look there now in verse 5. Jesus answering a 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.

So the man must be born of the Word. I believe the water here refers to the Word and of the Spirit. In verse 6, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and you ought to underline this verse if it’s not underlying in your Bible because a lot of teaching in the New Testament comes from this verse right here. Understand the difference between the flesh and the spirit. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is one of the spirit is spirit.

Two different birds, two different natures. And that’s why he says, Marvel not because you ought to understand this. In verse seven, Marvel not that I said unto thee, you must be born again. If there’s anything in the Bible that’s made clear, it is this statement, you must be born again. I was told that a man one time went to preach at this church, they wanted to have a revival. And so the preacher showed up and that Sunday morning he preached on you must be born again.

And so at night he preached on you must be born again. Well Monday night he preached on you must be born again. So the deacons had a meeting with him and says look we appreciate you must be born again but you know we wanted to hear some other sermon before I saw you must be born again. So that night on Tuesday night he got a prayer to preach and he preached on you must be born again. So the thead went and said Why are you preaching?

You must be born again. He because you must be born again. He preached it again. Well, I remember one time when Dr. Curtis Hudson was here and he was talking about a preacher that as he was preaching along and he’s preaching on that, Behold, I come quickly. Behold, I come quickly. And they didn’t have an aisle, but they had a few across there and they had it over there and then the house over there and it was kind close.

And the man was up there and he was preaching along doing a fairly good job and he got to the statement about, you know, behold I come quickly. And his mind went blank. He couldn’t think of anything else. He couldn’t think of the next point. Well, he’d always learned that whenever you can’t remember the next point, just repeat the last point, except stronger this time. He says, behold I come quickly. And he still couldn’t think of it. So he said, I behold, I come quickly and still couldn’t think of it.

So he behold and when he did, he knocked the podium over and he landed in that lap with that lady that was sitting on the front row. And he says, ma’am, I am so sorry. She says, don’t apologize. You warned me three times you were coming quickly. Well, sometimes, you know, a preacher forgets a point here and a point there. But the Bible says, you must be born again. The flesh, it comes and goes, you remember and don’t remember, but the new man is born of God, it is perfect.

It makes no mistakes. Now take your Bible and look there in the book of Romans in chapter 9. And see, when you read these things in the Old Testament where it says, cast out the bond, woman and her son, it shall not be heir with my son. Remember this, God says that once you trusted Christ as your Savior, it is the new man that inherits the things of God. Don’t let the flesh inherit anything. Don’t give him anything. That’s why in the Bible it talks about Amalek that they were to slay the Amalekites because the Amalekites was the type of the flesh.

Now this is why the Apostle Paul makes a statement, I died daily. Talking about I crucified the flesh every day. I died daily. Every day I have to crucify my flesh. Pretend like it died and was buried and therefore I don’t live this day for the satisfaction of the flesh. Now there’s things that we must do in this life because of a body. I’m talking about body flesh. I’m talking about the flesh of the old nature that’s in the body because the apostle Paul says that while I am yet in this body, I have a desire to depart and to be with the Lord, but to remain in the flesh is more needful for you to remain in the body.

But he’s not talking about the sinful nature. We hate and despise the sinful nature that dwells in our body. The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. So while we’re in the body, we’re not to let the flesh control us. Now here in Romans in chapter 9, look down there in verse 8. In verse 8, that is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. There’s been many times when I’ve listened to preachers, especially on the radio because I don’t go to many meetings where the preachers are that liberal.

And so they would talk about how that, and you can listen to sometime on radio and TV, and people are talking about, you know, everybody’s a child of God. Well the Bible says that everybody is not the child of God. Well who isn’t, who isn’t? All those that are children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. The only ones that are a child of God are those that are trusted Christ as their Savior. When I was given devotion for the high school football teams down in Florida, and I remember that they would always get together in the field and they would get together in the huddle and they would quote the Lord’s Prayer.

This is one of the things they would do. They’d always get here. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kin comes on. And they would quote the Lord’s Prayer. And so when I got to give devotions and one of the get-mad meetings, and this is the night before the game, I said, I noticed that a lot of y’all do this. And I says, and y’all all start off our Father, which art in heaven, I says, did you know if you’ve never been born again, God is not your Father, you’re not His child.

But I believe you have good intentions. So let me explain it to you so that the next time you have the devotions on the field and you quote the Lord’s prayer, when you say our Father, you could say, my father. He’s my father because you’re his child. So then I explained the gospel to them. Had a lot of people trust Christ of Savior’s. I thought, man, that went over pretty good. So I went to the next meeting to have and they had about 80 of the football players in the stands.

And the coach wouldn’t even let him go and get on the buses to go to the football field. This was still in the gymnasium I should say. And he had him wait right there until I got there and I gave devotions. And so I gave the devotions and I could tell more about how many didn’t raise their hand. And there was about five or six or so that didn’t raise their hand. All the rest of them raised their hand to trust Christ’s Savior.

There was an awesome time where you could go into the high schools and preach the gospel. I got into, I don’t know how many schools and I would get into the English class. You named the class, you could get into it. It didn’t matter what it was. I’d give the gospel. And give it to hand gesture, give an invitation right in the classroom. Teachers standing around the wall in rooms of packed with people. They bring other classes and they all stand there and just watch.

And you taught with authority. I don’t know. You can’t even get in there now. But see, there was a time where the kids in the world were better testimonies than Christian kids are today. The lost kids had higher standards than Christians have today. And that’s not a joke. But they did. They had higher standards, greater morality than Christians that go to church and suppose it’s the same thing as the cream of the crop. I don’t know if that’s the cream of the crop, but scum rises to the top too.

But anyway here he makes a statement, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. These are truths that you should have burned into your mind so that you always know this. Now turn into 1 Corinthians in chapter 15. 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians there is a teaching there about the 1st, the 2nd, the 1st, the 2nd. In 1 Corinthians 15 you’ll notice there in verse 47, the first man is on the earth and That was Adam.

The second man is the Lord from heaven. That’s Christ. Well, if you’re born after the first man, Adam upon the earth, then you’re going to be like him. That’s the flesh. That’s why you’re like that. That’s why you have a sinful nature. That’s why it doesn’t matter where the people are on the whole face of the earth. The raised issue has nothing to do with it. Everybody has an old sinful nature. Everybody’s capable of committing the same kind of sins.

Everybody gets mad and angry, jealous, everybody gets filled with pride and bitterness and all that. And everybody’s capable of loving their kids and getting married and everybody’s capable of same things. Doesn’t matter who you are, where you are. But he says the second Adam, the second man is the Lord from heaven. So if you’re born from the Lord from heaven and he was perfect then your second birth would be what? Be perfect, just like God. So your new birth that you have, Yes, you have been made perfect.

That’s why they go to heaven. You have to be perfect and you’re not perfect in the flesh So when you look at me if I look at you, I know that there’s two of you There’s the flesh and there’s the spirit your spirit is created perfect Created in righteousness cannot commit a sin because it had no sinful nature born of God Well, your flesh was born of the Adam the first man So therefore you have a sinful nature and you can still sin and so whenever you try to judge whether you know people are saved or lost by how they live, blow your mind.

Why? Because a Christian can live like the devil and a person who’s a saint. He can go to church and read the Bible and pray and do all the good things. And he said, well, I mean, as a Christian. And where are you judging by? Well, the way he lives. Yeah, but what if next week he lives the other way and the next week he lives another way. Next week he lives another way. It blow your mind. Aren’t you glad that your destination doesn’t depend upon somebody’s judgment about how you lived, whether or not they think you’re a Christian or not.

When it says you shall judge them by their fruit, talking about the lost man is talking about the the wolf in sheep’s clothing, the false prophet. And you judge them not by the way they live but the things they say, their testimony, the fruit of their lips. And that’s another sermon. But here in this verse, 1 Corinthians in chapter 15, look down there now in verse 49, looking verse 49. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

While we’re here in this world, we still have our physical body, so I bear the image of the earthly family. You’ve trusted Christ as your Savior, and when you leave this world, you’re going to have a body like His body. And His body is a perfect body. And He can walk through walls. He can appear and disappear at will. I can’t wait. I think that’d be a lot of fun. But there’s no simple desires and the new new body that you’re going to get.

And so you’re going to have all these new things because you’re going to bear the image of our Heavenly Father. And He made this statement, it’s not yet appear what we shall be. But when He shall appear, we know we shall be like Him, but we shall see Him as He is. So we’re going to be like the Lord. So you’re going to get a a new body in order to live forever and it won’t have a sinful nature, but you will have the same characteristics of the way you are.

Now at what age I don’t know, but don’t worry when y’all get to heaven, you’re not going to, I don’t think y’all are going to be running with gray hair and bifocals and not have, you’re perfect. And when somebody sees you, you’re perfect, whatever you look like, I don’t know what we’re going to look like. You know what I wish you to tell me when I was young, I look better when I was young. Don’t worry about it. God will take care of everything.

And you’re going to bear that image. Now look in verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, flesh, blood, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither death, corruption, inherit, incorruption. Neither death, corruption, inherit, incorruption. The flesh cannot inherit that which lasts forever because the flesh won’t last forever. I give something that lasts forever to that which will not last forever. It doesn’t make any sense. So it won’t happen that way. So the flesh, birth, cannot inherit the things of God.

It cannot inherit eternal life. It can’t have it. So keep this verse in mind. No words found. That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither death, corruption, and in corruption. Now it talks about, in the following verses, we won’t get into that this morning, about Yes, we’re going to be changed. And see there in that verse 51, we should not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. We sung a song the other day with the choir.

We’ve been changed. I’ve been changed. Something like that. I forget the name of it now. But yes, we’ve been changed. But we’re really going to be changed later. That hasn’t all took place yet. Now looking first Corinthians chapter 6. Turn to your left. First Corinthians in chapter 6. These verses, I’ve heard them totally mutilated by many people who don’t understand the teaching of the two natures of the two verses. But remember, these doctrinal truths are simply illustrated by those stories in the Old Testament.

So did they understand all this? I don’t know how much they understood. I wasn’t there. But I know they got the stories and whether or not they understood from that, these doctrinal issues, I don’t know. But the Bible says in the book of Corinthians in chapter, excuse me, Romans 15, that study and read and search the Old Testament scriptures, he says, because they were written for our learning, for our admonition, that we may learn to have our hope in the Lord.

So look in verse 9, no ye not, no ye not. Now the words no ye not is mentioned in verse 2, where it says no ye not. Verse 3, it says no ye not. Verse 9, no ye not. In verse 16, no ye not. Verse 19, no ye not. In other words, there’s so many things that Christians do not know, but they should know. And we should understand them because they’re the simple basic teachings of Bible doctrine. So in verse 9, no ye not, or don’t you know that the unrighteousness shall not inherit the kingdom of God?

God, the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. Be not the nature of the animator, no idolaters, no idolaters, nor feminine, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkers, nor evilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God. Many people say, well, see that if you do those things, then that means you can’t go to heaven. Well, that just about::::::::)”, WRITE NBN senselessShar haha not covetors. Well, you say, I didn’t murder nobody. Yeah, but I did, you’d the other.

These are things that everybody in the world is capable of doing. This is the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom. Don’t inherit it. You can’t earn it, but you don’t inherit it either. That’s the flesh. God never promised those things to the flesh. The first birth. That’s why you have to be born again. God promised all these things to those that become his child. Now get what he says here. He says here, these various things that mentions here are simply the works of the flesh.

These are names that are given to the people that do these things and they’re of the flesh. So he says now in verse 11, and such were some of you, but you are washed. Now get the you are, you are, you are. This is your present condition. You are washed, you are sanctified, made pure and holy, you are justified, you’ve been declared righteous. In the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. In other words, not because of your works or anything that you did, you trusted Christ as your Savior.

And because of that, Hebdo were in the flesh, you were unrighteous. That’s how you’re saying. It’s a class of people. You were in the flesh. Now you are washed. You are justified. You are sanctified. This is your present condition. And that condition will never change. These things he mentioned here does not change. That’s why it’s good to understand them. So when he says that they shall not inherit the kingdom of God, well I’ve heard preachers say, well look, look, man you do these things here and you’re not going to heaven when you die because it says you cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

Well the flesh never could, never had, never will. But I’ve got two births. My flesh birth never will inherit anything of God. And it is condemned, it is corruptible. But it’s the new birth that’s born of God. This one doesn’t have a sinful nature. This one shenanes to the Bibleline. 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.

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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 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.

Up to and now on. You know why a lot of people don’t believe in eternal security security is because they believe you’re saved up to a certain point and you and I that believe in eternal security we believe in now on up to and now on. See many people believe that when you trust Christ your Savior he has paid for your sins up to that day but you and I that trust Christ is our Savior we believe that we’re saved because of up to and now on that he made a payment up to the day we trust the Lord and now on.

And the reason for that is because I believe the scriptures are actually teaching exactly what I just told you. Now remember Hebrews is written to Hebrews. A Hebrew was a Jewish person, people of the nation of Israel. These were the law keepers, but they had already been on the law as a nation for 1500 years and never kept it. So why do they have to keep the law now? Well, they didn’t. He says, why put a yoke of iron upon their neck, which we nor our fathers were able to bear.

That’s in the book of Acts in chapter 15. So he says in verse 1, “…for the law, having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers there unto perfect. So the real reason of all of this is God had a way of making the you and I perfect. And he says the law can’t do it. Now see like if I had this glass sitting right here, now there is because of those spotlights.

There’s a shadow of the glass coming right down here across my Bible. Now the shadow is not the real thing, but he says Because here the law having a shadow of good things to come, but it’s not the very image exactly of that which is coming. It’s only a shadow. But the real thing is coming and that was Christ. So God says, I have a new and living way, something that will really work. But see, God has to show you and I that we cannot deliver ourselves, that we cannot save ourselves by any good deeds that we do.

So that’s why the law was given to show us that it is impossible for a man to save himself. And it makes a statement here and can never, and you ought to unline that word never, never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year, continually make the comers thereunto, perfect. See every year, now look over here, see over here, this is the holy of holies. Now I’m standing in the holy place and over there’s the outer court and in the holy place where they have the table of showbread and also the candlestick, well there’s a big old veil here, great big dark veil and the only one has a right to go into that room where the ark of the covenant is and where the cherub is supposed to be on the both sides of it and their wings come together and they touch and so forth.

And inside of that ark was the Ten Commandments and the rod that budded and so forth, once a year the high priest of the nation from the tribe of Levi and of the line of Aaron, he would go into that holy of holies. And some say, I don’t know, they some say they tie a rope around this guy so that when he goes in there, if God doesn’t accept the sacrifice that he makes, when he gets strike dead, he dies.

So they got to pull them out. But they ain’t going in. So they would pull the guy out of there. So the guy that goes in there, he has to offer sacrifice for the sins for himself and also for the sins of the nation once a year. That’s what he had do. So it was not paper sand. It was to cover the sins for that year, but it was only a type of a sacrifice that would be made years later by Christ himself.

So he didn’t go in there boldly. He didn’t go in with great confidence. He says it doesn’t make the comers there into him. Perfect. What will make us perfect? Now see, there’s those that even today that believe that you’re saved up to that day you trust the Lord and God forgive you for everything that’s passed. But now these things that you do at that can still send you to hell. Theirs doesn’t make them perfect. If whatever they believe doesn’t make them perfect, then they’re not going to heaven.

It is not sufficient. So what we need is something that can make us perfect. I hope you understand that. Now look in verse 2, for then if it made them perfect, for then would they not have ceased to be offered? In other words, if the sacrifices that was made made you perfect, well then the sacrifices would cease. You don’t need them anymore. Why? Because I’m perfect. And if I’m perfect, I don’t need no more sacrifice. I don’t need another offering for my sins.

See, there’s a question mark at this end of this verse. So it doesn’t make you perfect because if it did, then I wouldn’t have to keep doing this sacrifice year after year. Now see, that is exactly the same thing that is done in many churches, is that they believe you’re saved up to this point. And then the next time you’re saying, you got to get forgiveness for that. Because now you get covered as long as you keep getting forgiveness and you keep on going and keep on going, then that means that what they’re saying is that they’re not perfect now, and nor are they ready to go to heaven.

God can’t take them to heaven yet. And that’s why when you ask them, do you know for certain that you’re gonna make it a heaven? Well, they can’t say for certain because they don’t know if they’re gonna do something in the future, they’re gonna keep them from getting there. So God explains all these things in the Bible. Nothing’s new under the sun. That is a religion, but it’s not what God said. It’s not what he taught. So then he makes a statement there in verse two, for then would they not have ceased to be offered?

Because that the worshipper once purged, made perfect, should have had no more conscience of that. In other words, I shouldn’t no longer feel guilty and I shouldn’t be under a burden of, what am I gonna do about my sins? Because they’re all paid. So we believe that up to and now on. Now on is the words where you get forever. Now on forever. And there’s a lot of difference in believing that I’m saved up to this point and believe that I am saved forever.

So we have something that’s better. The message is not just, well, we’re all believing the same thing. We just do it different. No, no, no, no. We’re not believing the same thing. And the pressures are not all exactly alike. No, that’s not true. So then he says in verse three, but in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. In other words, they got to do it every year because the sacrifice that was made was a yearly thing.

But it says there’s something better coming. Now let’s get this. Look in verse 4. 4, it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. It didn’t do it in the Old Testament. It doesn’t do it in the New Testament. And if a man had to keep the law and make these sacrifices to be saved. Well, there’s no temple. There is no ark of the covenant. There’s no veil. So how in the world are they going to make these sacrifices if they had to do it today?

They haven’t had it for 2000 years. So then nobody can go to heaven anyway because there’s no way. The temple has been destroyed. There’s no veil. There’s no ark of the covenant. There’s no sacrifices and we know who the high priest started to make them. Now look what he says. In verse 5, wherefore when he cometh into the world, I wonder who we’re talking about. This is talking about when Jesus came into the world. It makes a statement in quoting the Old Testament, scripture, sacrifice and offering, thou would if not, but a body has thou prepared mean.

So Jesus didn’t come here to offer sacrifices of bulls and goats and so forth. He came to be a sacrifice. You remember in the story with Abraham and his son that he was going to offer up on the altar and it says, the Lord will provide himself a lamb. It doesn’t mean that God’s going to get him a lamb. No, God will provide himself a lamb. See the difference? He will be the lamb. That’s when John the Baptist saw him.

He says, behold the lamb of God. So God was coming into the world and he says, a body has not prepared me. So me existed before of a body. Christ existed before. He didn’t begin in the womb of Mary. That’s what he did. was the preparation for a body for the Son of God to live in. He said, the body has thou prepared me and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sins. Thou would have had no pleasure. In other words, God would not have any pleasure in any of the sacrifices the offerings that Christ could have made because they didn’t have any satisfaction in the Old Testament on any of the sacrifices that were made.

But he says here in verse seven, then said, I load, I come in the volume of the book. It is written of me from the first prophecy in the Bible, Genesis, all the way through, throughout the whole volume of the word of God. It was written, he’s coming. He come for one reason to do the will of God. And that’s why he made the statement. He said, I came not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me.

And whenever the Father looked over the banner of heaven and the Holy Spirit came upon him in the form of a dove, it says that this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Because God knew this lamb was to go on to be the sacrifice and God was pleased with his sacrifice and the sacrifice could not have any spot or blemishes. had to live his life perfectly without sin. No tarnished, no guilt, nothing that he could do that was wrong.

He had to be the perfect Son of God. Because if he had committed one sin, then he would have had to die for his own sin. Therefore, he could not have been a payment for our sins. So Christ had to please the Lord by keeping the law so that the law could not condemn him. So therefore the law could not condemn him, he didn’t have to die. But when he took upon himself our sins, then the law condemned sin because it was in him.

And he became sin for us. Now he knew no sin, but he became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God and him. In verse 8, above when he said, sacrifice and offerings and burn offerings and offering for sin, thou would have not neither had pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He takeeth the way of the first, that he may establish the second.

A different way, since a man cannot earn his way to heaven, there has to be another way to heaven. Because the other way by the works of man, it is impossible, there has to be another way or no man gets to heaven. So the way is faith in Christ. Now you can tell a person, you want to go to heaven, just keep the law. Remember Christ told that to a man one day, he says, what must I do good master that I may inherit eternal life.

He says, keep the law. Keep the law. Oh, I’ve done all of this from my youth up. He said, didn’t great sell everything that you have and follow me. And he had great possessions. So he had great sorrow and he went away. You see, in the list of those things that Christ had told him to do, he didn’t mention thou shalt not covet. But later on, it showed that God simply Christ used the law to show the man that he had not yet kept the law.

So Christ used the law to show a man that he could not save himself by his works because the law cannot make the comers they’re unto perfect. Can’t make you perfect. I’ll hold your place right here but let’s look over there just one verse. It’s just a good verse. Look there in chapter seven of Hebrews and look in verse 11 where it makes the statement in verse 11 and chapter 7, if therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood 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 the law made you perfect then you don’t need anything else done. You’d be perfect. But since it can’t, now look down there in verse 19. Verse 19 says, for the law made nothing what? Perfect. But the bringing in of a better hope did by this, by the which will we draw nigh unto God. So there is another way that can make a person perfect.

And see, there’ll be a multitude of churches throughout our land that are teaching people that to go to heaven they have to live right and do right and keep the 10 commandments and they don’t they go to hell. All of that is the same teaching exactly identical we’re trying to keep the law to go to heaven and it doesn’t work. You say well they’re safe no they’re not no they’re not not according to the Bible. Either the Bible is true or it’s just a piece of junk take the thing thought in the trash or what God says is true and people are lost and they’re blind.

9. Looking for 16 of the same chapter, chapter 7, who is made not after the law, talking about Christ, who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. In other words, the law cannot give you life. Life must come from life. That means life must come from a person. Everything living has to come from something living. So you can’t get it life from a law. The law kill it. The Spirit give a life because the Spirit is life.

He lives forever so he has endless life so he can give you that which he has in this life. We came from our parents and they gave us temporary life because we got an old sinful nature from them. But we got it from life. All life comes from life and exists on previous life. That’s the law of biogenesis from the very beginning. Now look there in Hebrews in chapter 10. So now there in verse 10. Now get verse 10.

By the which will we are sanctified. Now what does word sanctified mean come from a Greek word, Haggioso, meaning to be made pure and holy and set apart. Like we get the word sanctuary, sanctified, things that are holy, dedicated to God, and that’s why we’re supposed to live a sanctified life because our bodies are supposed to be sanctified given to God. And everything we have is to be given to God. And it makes a statement here in this verse, by the way, what we are sanctified made pure Holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and now on once for all this has to be different than what he was saying in the first couple verses about a year after year after year and continually keep doing this so if something’s different it can’t be that It has to be different.

So what they had to do all the time, there has to be something that you only have to do once and it works forever. Or it’s the same thing. If people can understand what the Bible is saying here in verse 11. And every priest stand up daily ministering and offering often time the same sacrifices which can and there’s that word never take away sins. So was anybody in the Old Testament ever saved because they kept the law? No. Nobody.

In verse 12, but this man talked about Christ. So it has to be different and things that are different are not the same. But this man after he had offered how many sacrifices? One, sacrifice from now on, forever Sat down on the right hand of the God. Why did he sit down because it’s priests they stand all the time Offering these sacrifices if God’s telling us something here. He said that something’s different than that in verse 12 But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for Ever that means don’t have to do it again You don’t have to do it next year or the next year or the next year and you don’t have to keep coming and claiming on that That same sacrifice over and over again because if this one is different then this one must make you perfect Or it did nothing for you

If you were not made perfect when you trusted Christ as your Savior it did absolutely nothing for you It meant nothing to you it is nothing But that’s your new birth God made you perfect in him because he is perfect. You’re placed in him. You have perfection now verse 13 from henceforth henceforth now on now on So I make this up. This is in the Bible. This is book from henceforth Expecting till his enemies be made his footstone means that he sat down and he he don’t have to get back up to make another Sacrifice it’s over.

It’s done See up there in verse 17, and their sins and iniquities, will I remember what? No more because their sins are forgiven. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Don’t have to make another one. You remember when Jesus Christ died on the cross, the Bible says the earth shook and God turned out the lights of heaven and the veil in the temple was rent from bottom to top or top to bottom. It shows that man didn’t rip it, but that God ripped the veil means that everybody has now access into the very holy of holies, into the presence of the Lord because of the body Jesus Christ because his body was a type of veil that was torn for us.

That’s what it all means. His body was the veil for you and I to enter into the very presence of God. So we have access unto the Father by the blood of Jesus Christ. And that’s why he says, come boldly, boldly to the throne of grace. So we don’t have to be timid and shy like that high priest wondering and if he’s going to be struck dead. And now I have to worry about it anymore. We have come and we can say, Bully, I know I have eternal.

I know I’m going to heaven when I die. Look what he says in verse 19. He says, having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. See what I’m telling you is what this book says. By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, And that is to say his what? His flesh, his body. A body has not prepared me. Chapter 9 verse 23, Old Testament tabernacle that they built, the temple later, was built on the order of one that was seen in heaven.

See, in verse 23, it was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these. the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figure of the truth, but in the heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. So he is our high priest, and we have a high priest that has an endless life, and he is able to make the comers there unto perfect, so that we don’t have to have another sacrifice.

And so after Christ made a payment for all the sins, once and for all came back from the dead, there can never be another one. So you and I don’t have to be saved today and lose it tomorrow and get saved the next day and lose it the next day and get saved the next day. That would be if Christ did not pay for all of our sins. But He did. You see, well, why didn’t we have to confess our sins to God?

That’s not for salvation. That’s fellowship. That’s 1 John 1 9 for believers. While we’re still here, we should confess our sins to God. But if you’d never confessed any of your sins to God after you trust Christ to say good, you still go to heaven because the penalty for your sins has been paid and forgiven and cast into the depths of the sea and never to be remembered again. But your personal walk with God, you want to keep things clean between you and God.

And God said, he’ll forgive you. He’ll forgive you. because he said because of the blood of Jesus Christ in verse 7, of 1 John chapter 1. But it’s never for your salvation because you never lost it. You don’t have to get saved again and again and again and again and again. And people could only see this and yet it’s so clear in God’s Word. Now go back there in verse 14. He says, by for by one offering, he hath as past tense, Perfected he had perfected forever who Them that are sanctified That is that what it said and Yet there’s people who cannot believe this I told a man when they stand in right out here I says you don’t believe the Bible.

Oh, yes, I do believe the boss. Yes, sir. You don’t believe the Bible Because he believed you can be saved today and lost, but you don’t understand what the Bible’s teaching. You don’t understand the gospel. You don’t understand John 3 16. You don’t even know what Ephesians 2 8 9 is talking about. You are saved by grace. Not of works. Let’s see any man should boast. And who so ever believe it then him should not perish but have. What kind of life ever lasting life?

You don’t believe that. You believe it’s temporary. Either God’s meaning what he says or he doesn’t. Or looking out in verse 19. having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he had consecrated for us to the veil that is to say his body his flesh and having a high priest over the house of God which is what we have interceding there for us in heaven as it says in chapter nine.

Look in verse 20, let us, because we’re his children, we believe this, we’ve been made pure and holy. Let us draw near what they true heart and full assurance. You’re the underlying those were full assurance of faith. You ought never to question, never to doubt where you’re going to spend eternity. If you do, it’s because you don’t believe God meant what he said. And that’s why he says in 1 John chapter 5, he says, you call God a liar.

You don’t believe him. You doubt. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavern, for he is faithful to that promise, because our faith without wavern is based upon his promise that he cannot lie. That’s why in the Old Testament, when that priest died, well, then the next priest had to take over. And when that priest died, the next priest took over. When that priest died, the next priest took over. Well, they don’t, well, he’s the last one.

There’s nobody can take his job. He is our forever high priest. So he says here in verse 24, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. So what does God want us to do because of provoke people to do what’s right, provoke them to do good work, not to provoke people to anger, but to provoke people, try to challenge people, motivate people, exhort people to serve the Lord. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and the good worth, not forsaken the assembling of ourselves together as a manner of some is, but exhorting one another.

So much the more you see the day approaching in verse 24. If we send willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain people looking for judgment and firing the Ignatian which shall devour the adversary those that sin willfully after you receive Christ is this is not written to the lost man this is all to the Christian you see after you know the Lord and you have eternal life can you still sin willfully after you trust the Lord yes well is it gonna mean a more sacrifice for senses there’s no more sacrifice for sin Christ ain’t gonna make another one because of when he made was sufficient but what can you look forward to the chasing hand of God you see there in verse 30, for we know him that hath said, vengeance belongeth unto me,

I will recompenseeth of them. And again, the Lord shall judge what is people. And then he says, it’s a fearful thing to fall to the hands of the living God. Once you’re his child, you’re his child. And that’s why now this is leading up to chapter 11 about what does it mean to live by faith? And chapter 12 is the consequences if you don’t live by faith. Because chapter 12 deals with the chasting hand of God upon his children.

And so, can you live like you please and get away with it? No. Can you try? Yes. Can you get away with it? No. Guy going chasing? Yes. It seems you want you to understand the principle of 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 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. broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvary of tampa.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. 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. 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 concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

All the way back to Moses. This is written in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 30. And way back in the Old Testament, these scriptures were fixed in the reed, are from that person of scripture, way back there, and this is what they mean. Now sometimes the scriptures tells us things that wasn’t previously known. Now for example, when you read in the book of Jude, when it says an Enoch walked with God, and that he was a preacher. And he preached this.

It says that he preached about the Son of God, the Lord, coming in glory to execute judgment upon all the wicked and has about three verses there. But whenever you go back to the Old Testament where it says there in chapter five of the book of Genesis, in it what with God and he was not for God took him. That’s all there is. Not until we read the book of Jude in the New Testament right before the book of Revelation, do we find out that in it was a preacher and he preached about the Lord and that’s Jesus Christ coming in power and great glory and to execute judgment.

But we wouldn’t have known that if it hadn’t been revealed here in the book of Jude. So there’s a lot of things that were told and a lot of things they knew and yet not written down in Scripture. So how do you know that? Well, remember it makes this statement in a book of 2 Peter in chapter 2, where it makes the statement that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Talk about how wicked the world was, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

And God used him to build an ark for the saving of his household and the whole human race. But when you read 2 Peter in chapter 2, it makes this statement. And it was a preacher of righteousness. Now we didn’t know that he was a preacher of righteousness. Never said that. Not when you read back there in the Old Testament, but he was a preacher of righteousness. Now we’re talking about man’s righteousness, so you’d think he’d be talking about the righteousness of God.

So see, they did preach. And what about the message before it was written down? In Romans in chapter 10 it talks about their line is going out through all the earth, talking about the message that is preached by the revolving of the stars and the sun and the earth and all the heavens. So when you read the book of Psalms in the 19th chapter when it says, and I saw the handiwork of God and it talks about how that God had done all these things and that the sun goes forth as a strong man to run a race.

And all those things were to teach a story. And the stars had meaning. The sun had a meaning. The moon had a meaning. And so God taught many things. That’s why we today, we have many people that have twisted astronomy and turned it into astrology and turned it into something wicked. And at the same time, the twelve signs of the Zodiac are mentioned in the scripture in the book of Job. So God is the one who designed the Zodiac, the 12 signs, and those 12 signs are the teachings of the Bible.

But today they have been corrupted, and now we have the complete word of God, so we don’t use those anymore. But now the people have taken that which God has given. And begin to worship the heavens and try to make meanings out of all of it and under what sign were you born. And maybe some of y’all got up and read your horoscope this morning. If you did, that’s wickedness. That’s wickedness and ungodliness. And so an abomination to God.

That’s not why God gave it. Just like there’s people today, they may worship the church house and they worship the Bible. but not the God that made the world and the God that made the word. They don’t worship him. And so people can worship the creature more than they create her. So things change. But the word of God still means what God intended. So here in the book of Romans in chapter 10, look here in verse five, for Moses described the righteousness, which is of the law, that the man which doeth them shall live by them.”

In other words, if you want to live, and in chapter 8 of the book of Deuteronomy it talks about this, and also in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 30 it talks about this. But he says, I said before you this day to choose life or death. In other words, whether you live or die, and he’s talking about physically there, obey my law. And so there’s laws that God gave to the nation of Israel that affected their protection upon the earth, their blessings of God upon their land, and their help, all these things, and they had to make choices.

They make the right one, God blessed, they didn’t, God cursed. So God said it before them, they had decisions to make, but they did not keep the law. They didn’t obey the law. So the law was the reveal that every man has sinned. Come short of God’s profession. By the law of in verse 6. But the righteousness which is of faith, so now in verse 5 the righteousness of the law and verse 6 the righteousness which is by faith.

So chapter 10 I believe is time to get us to understand if you’re not saved by the law and you’re saved by faith. Where does faith come from? Where do you get it? He got the law from God. Do you get faith from God? So there are people who believe that by grace or you say through faith and that, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God and they think that the faith is the gift of God and they translate Ephesians to 8 and 9 to mean that.

So that means that if you want to be saved, you have to wait until God gives you the faith. God give me the faith. So if that’s true, then no man can be saved until God gives him the faith. And if he doesn’t trust the Lord, it’s not his fault, it’s God’s fault. So that’s fatalistic. That’s not what the word of God teaches. You see, faith is not the gift of God. Be saved and have an eternal life. That’s the gift of God.

For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself. It’s the gift of God that’s the reference to your salvation. That’s free. But where do you get the faith from? Because some people believe and some people don’t believe. Every man is born with the ability to trust. You start with your parents. You have to trust them. Maybe you knew it or didn’t know it. You trust them to feed you and protect you and do whatever for you.

But as you grow, you may get to the place where you have doubts about your mom and your dad. Whether or not they can do this or do that. And you question whether or not there is bright and wise as you once thought they were. And then after you live about another 30 years you’ll find out what they were smarter than I thought But you can put your faith in anything You see a man can put his faith in the pew to take him to heaven But that doesn’t mean that you can take you there You can put your faith in this church to take it to heaven But that doesn’t mean it can take you there you see you’re the one that determines where you place the faith So you can place your faith in the Lord or you can place your faith in things

But the thing is Can that thing that object of your faith do what you believe it can do? See it’s not the size of my faith that gets me to heaven. It’s the object of my faith. I Could put a lot of faith in this microphone to take me to heaven and I got lots of faith. I really believe that doesn’t make Mounted Heel of beans that’s they don’t have no power and So a man can trust in his good works and it has no power So he says, when you trust Christ as your Savior, he gives you eternal life.

You go to heaven and what he did. So where does the faith come from? So then, so then, you know that you need it because that’s where you get the faith of righteousness. A righteousness God gives you by faith. Well, where are you going to get this faith from? So look there in verse 17. And you ought to underline this verse in your Bible if you haven’t underlined it yet. So it calls, we’re talking about if a man is saved by faith, then where does it come from?

So faith cometh by what? Hearing and hearing by the word of God. And you can’t trust in the Lord unless you hear about the Lord. And then you can’t hear about the Lord unless somebody tells you about the Lord. And so therefore, that’s why a man is to speak with the mouth and confess with the mouth of what he believes in his heart so that others can hear and understand how to be saved. It’s not a matter that you and I have to go up into heaven and get a whole of God and bring him down here.

And we don’t have to go down into the pits of hell and get ahold of God and bring him up here. So I don’t have to ascend or descend and yet this scripture comes from the book of Deuteronomy where it says shall you ascend into heaven and bring down the Messiah or reach down into hell and bring up the Messiah? Wait a minute, what’s the Messiah doing in hell? Because that’s what the scripture says. See there in verse 6, but the righteous witches of faith speaketh on this wise, say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven?

That means to bring the Messiah down. Who shall ascend into heaven? But that is to bring Christ down from above. This is a quote from the Old Testament that was said by Moses. You say, well, Moses didn’t understand anything about Jesus Christ. Doesn’t it say in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11 that Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ to be greater riches than the treasures in Egypt? evidently he made his decision based upon Jesus Christ and upon the treasures that he would have with the Lord and therefore he was able to muster up I guess the courage to leave everything that he had and to take a stand that he was going to deliver Israel from the iron grips of Egypt.

The only problem was that he was willing to do it 40 years before God was ready. He’s going to do the same thing, but he did it 40 years later. The timing wasn’t right. He was the right person, because he said he thought that God was going to deliver Israel by his hand, but they didn’t believe it. And so he left and went on the backside of the desert for 40 years. He learned the ways of the world for 40 years, came to the conclusion, look what I am, 40 years on the backside of the desert, realizing that he wasn’t nothing.

And God had to unlearn him, teach him some new things. And then God had to retrain him. And so the man lived to be 120 years old, and a great man. But now look what he says in verse 8. And this is all in the Old Testament in the book of Deuteronomy. Verse 8 says, but what say it hit? The word, excuse me, verse 7, let’s get verse 7. who shall descend into the deep? That is to bring up Christ again from the dead.

If this is what it meant to bring up Christ again from the dead, then evidently they knew that Christ, the Messiah, came from heaven and was on the earth and will be there and will be killed and come back again from the dead. That’s Old Testament. So they knew that the sacrifices that they were making would not save them because they were not to trust in them. What if they weren’t to trust in those sacrifices? Just what? Then were they to trust in?

God doesn’t save people two different ways. Everybody’s always saved the same way. We’re saved by grace through faith. They were saved looking forward to the cross, the payment the Messiah would make, and we’re saved looking back to that very same event. So we’re saved by faith on both sides of the cross. Then look what he says in verse 8, but what say it that the word is neither even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which we preach.

Why should we preach? Why should I tell people how to have eternal life? Because they can’t be saved except by faith. And they can’t have faith to trust the Lord unless we tell the gospel message. So we preach the gospel so that people can hear and understand it and trust the Lord. We are not responsible for their decision. I am not responsible for any man trusting Christ. Or rejecting Christ. I have nothing to do with that. I and you are just to be faithful to give the gospel.

So whenever you give out a track, you’re giving out the gospel. When you get people to read a book or you talk to them on the telephone, see you don’t have to be behind this podium up here to be a preacher of the gospel. Every child of God is to preach the gospel some way or another. So you preach. And by that somebody liable to believe. And their eternal destiny. nation rest upon that truth. Now if you don’t really believe that then you won’t have a great desire to get it out but if you really believe that then you do.

I was thinking the other day about a guy named John Van Reiter, that big old John. Now I’m gonna say this and he’s not here but I’m gonna tell it anyway. John Van Reiter went to Bible college when I did but John Van Reiter he got into a different kind of a ministry. He wound up working for the police force. And working for the police force, he became an undercover agent for the drug narcotics and stuff. And so he would, he’d be a plant and he grew his hair long, like a hippie, had blonde hair, long hair.

Can you see this big hippie? Picture big John, big hippie. And he had, you know, he would dress up and he said if people knew who he was and what he was doing, they would have killed him. He had a very, very dangerous job and he tells stories of how him going down in Colombia and all the drug rage that they’ve made and people that have been put in jail and people that have been killed. But he made a choice.

That was a decision. Well, after a few years, you know, he’d been in there long enough, he was able to retire. And then he got him a nice place up there in Massachusetts and then he wind up selling it. But you know what he does? He invests his money in spiritual things. He’s helped me out whenever I needed it. And he’s done the same with Wally and he’ll help Freddie Coyle. And now he’s down there in Mexico and he called me up and said, I want you to go to Mexico with me.

So I’m trying to get together about 200 preachers down here and I want you to come down and talk to him. But he pays. You know why he does that? And he don’t want no money from nobody because he’s made his own money and he’s got enough to live on. More than he needs. So he invested, but why does he do it? Because he believes this. Do what you can, why you can, and that people will trust Christ as their Savior.

And I forget how many thousands of those things that he ordered too. And he’d been passing and getting those things. And he says they designed that little coloring book for the kids. It’s nothing but the gospel in it. And they go across the border and those little kids just grab those things and color those things and they’ve got stories. And they see they invest their time, their effort, whatever they can do, their money for the sake of getting the gospel to other people.

Now you’re gonna live and you’re gonna die and the thing is is what did you do with the time that God gave you or whatever God gave you? See all of us have a responsibility to the Lord to do what we can with whatever God has blessed us with. But now get this in verse 9 Remember we’re talking about how is a man say by faith and that a man has to hear it Because if he doesn’t hear it then he can’t believe it and he can’t trust So he says in verse 9, that is, if that if thou shall confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved.

If you believe this, if you believe it, now you don’t confess with your mouth to be saved, but you confess what you believe. Only way that we can spread the word is I confess with my mouth what I believe in my heart. I believe that Jesus Christ died on that cross, paid for my sins, came back from the dead because I believe he did it for me. I confess with my mouth for the last 46 years I want people to know it.

I want them to hear it. Because if somebody hadn’t told me, then I wouldn’t have heard it. And I couldn’t trust Christ because I had never heard the message before. And like I said the other day, I’ve never had anybody ever witness to me. You know who I have had witness to me though? I’ve had folks, I’ve had Jehovah’s Witnesses try to win me. I’ve had Mormons try to win me, but I’ve never had a Christian try to win me.

Now ain’t that something? And you know they’ll be out there and they’ll be knocking on doors and the other ones be riding their bicycle and dressing their suit and they’ll go all over the world and they will give two years, Mormon, two years out of their life to just full-time evangelism before they do anything that’s what they do. And all their morning people say they support them full time full support for two years to be a full time missionary and they send them all over the world.

BYU that’s what they train them for. So they can go out all over the world and they set them up and they take care of them, they support them. And they grow. They really do. They don’t worry about anything. All their needs are taken care of. And all they do is commit themselves for two years to evangelism. Knocking on doors and riding your bike. How many miles they put on them? I don’t know. You see, they believe what they believe.

And how many times have you ever had a Jehovah’s Witness knock on your door? They’re not Jehovah’s Witnesses, they’re false witnesses. But they’ll come by and they’ll knock on your door. Because see, they believe that you’re they’re working for the kingdom. They’re trying to establish their own righteousness. They have a zeal of God, but not according to them. And those that know the truth, those that believe that this book is true. It is most difficult like pulling teeth, get a person to witness to get them to pass out tracks, to get them to pray for the lost.

And yet it’s so simple. He says it’s by faith and faith alone. And this is why Paul made the statement. He says, brother, my prayer and hearts desire for Israel is that they might be saved. And in first part of chapter 9, he says, I would be willing to give myself to be separated from God, to be a curse from Christ for my brethren. In other words, be willing to go to hell so that his brother could go to heaven.

And like I told you last week, I’m not there yet. I got a ways to go before I’m at that point. I’ll have to admit, I am not willing to go to hell for one person. Are you? Think about it. Are you willing to spend an eternity separate from God if it would get one person saved? I’m not. I don’t want to be separated from God for all eternity. Try to go into your bedroom or a closet space where you can get alone and turn out all the lights and just let it be dark.

Picture yourself in hell for all eternity in the flames of eternal conscious torment forever and ever and ever and knowing that you will never get it will never end. And you had a chance and you took, did not take advantage of it. at that really be you talk about a living hell because the body will burn but not be consumed. But see if we only had a vision, could catch it, could see that. But you can’t make somebody see something.

Because as you read the Word of God you have to see it. And as I read the Old Testament I don’t see much scripture in the Old Testament that talks about the literal place of hell, though it’s there. And sometimes the word is just shield and refers to grave, sometimes pit, sometimes death, sometimes hell. And in Psalm 16 is talking about hell, the place where the departed go. Not talking about the grave, but it’s a real place and you and I are supposed to believe that.

But he makes the statement here in verse 11, for the scripture says, Who so ever believe it in him or on him shall not be ashamed. In other words, you’ll not be ashamed or Ever regret that you ever trusted the Lord You’ll never be sorry We sing a song sometime from the choir. I’ve never been sorry That I trusted his name remember that song somebody gonna help me out singing it over here I just go for it. I’ve never been sorry that I trust the Lord.

This thing when we get to heaven, we’re not going to be sorry we did so. Now down here you may be afraid or ashamed that somebody knows you’re Christian. But in heaven you won’t be. But the Lord says, I will be ashamed of you because you were ashamed of me. That doesn’t mean you don’t get to go to heaven. You still get to go to heaven. But you’ll be ashamed because you never witnessed one. And the Lord says, live now because one day he’s coming and in the book of 1 John in chapter 2 verse 28, now my little children abide in that when he shall appear we shall have confidence and not be ashamed before him and his coming.

And a lot of God’s children are going to be ashamed. A shame they never did what they could have done. Because we’re not asked to perform miracles down here. We’re not asked to be supermen. We’re not asked to do anything we can’t do. We can do what God wants us to do. All we have to do is just explain the gospel to people. So when you leave, make sure you have tracks and make sure you try to talk to somebody this week.

Always ask the Lord, Lord, let me talk to somebody this week. Somebody, give a track to somebody. That’s the Word of God. Somebody, I’ll be trusting the Lord from it. And it may lead to an open door where you might get to talk to them about the whole thing and explain it to them. You see me do the hand gesture a thousand times, learn how to do it. Be an expert at it. A soul winner is nothing more than a person who makes the gospel clear for the lost man to understand.

The power is in the message. It’s not in you, it’s in the message. In other words, the message is in you, yes. But God can use you. Look up here. This man represents you and me and the wallet represents sin. We all have sin upon us. God says that he loves us. He hates our sin. And for you and I to pay for sin is eternal separation from God. In hell. But God loves us and wants us to go to heaven and to go to heaven, we have to be perfect as righteous as God because heaven is perfect.

God is perfect and we have to be perfect to go into heaven. But we can’t because of sin. God will not allow us into heaven. So how can God get rid of the sin? Remember, the sin is not just the sin that I commit. It’s the sin nature that’s within me. I could take this away and I still can’t get in. Because you see, the sin nature is still inside of me. I committed this because I am a sinner.

So God has to give me a new birth, not change me, not change me, not send me to church and do all of the deed. God has to give me a new birth. So this hand represents Jesus Christ, he’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world. He has no sin, no sin nature. So he has no sin. But Christ, because he loves us and hates our sin, it says that he hates it because it separates us from him.

So what Christ did for us, He took our sins, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead and said, if we would believe it, He would give us His righteousness. And if God gave me His righteousness, then I would be as righteous as God. Can I go to heaven if I’m as righteous as God? Well, yes. That’s a righteousness that God gives to me by faith in what He did for me. And God says, once you trust Him, He’ll never cast you out and never lose you.

Best news in all the world. Let’s pray, shall we? With every head bowed and every eye closed and no one looking around, if you’ve never trusted Christ as your savior. Right now, why not just talk to the Lord and say something simple like this? Lord, I know I’m a sinner. I don’t understand it all, but I know that I’ve done things wrong. I believe that Christ died, paid for my sins, and I’m gonna trust Him this morning. There’s my only hope of going to heaven.

Friend, I’m not gonna have you forward, not gonna embarrass you. But right where you’re sitting, if what a said made sense, would you say, yes Lord, I will trust Christ as my Savior right now. And friend, by doing that, God will give you eternal life as a free gift. And He’ll never cast you out, never lose you. And you can know that you’re going to heaven when you die. Would you believe it? Would you trust Him? If you will, we’ll just dip you in it very quickly and say, pray for me.

I’ll trust Christ as my Savior this morning, and I’ll like you to pray for me. Is there anyone at all before we close? If you’ve already trusted Christ as your Savior, do you see the responsibility? All of us as God’s children are responsible to preach the gospel. One way or another, find a way, find a way. Because one day we’ll all stand before the Lord and give an account of ourselves. I won’t be judging you. You won’t be judging me.

We all have our own heavenly Father, and we’ll stand before Him. And you don’t want to be ashamed before Him in His coming. Our Father, we ask Your blessings upon each one here, as Father Your protection, because we’re living in a sinful world. The devil would like us to do everything in the world, but talk to people about their soul. He help us to have the confidence and the bones that we need and use this for your own engloring Christ name we pray.

You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing 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. Life 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.

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 Preaches told 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.

I want you to take your Bible in. Turn to the book of Romans, the book of Romans. We’ve been studying in the book of Romans on Sunday morning and Wednesday night. And we’ve gotten now to the tenth chapter. The tenth chapter of Romans is a very interesting chapter. And I’m not sure that I can give you everything that it says. I’ve only been studying it for about 45 years, and I still have not gotten everything out of this portion of Scripture.

It is loaded with so much. And so any time we study the Bible, we’re only scratching the surface because it is a book of wisdom. And we’ve got little ole finite minds. God is infinite, knows so much, knows it all. And whenever we read a verse, we think, well, that verse, this is what it says. And yet with the Lord, when we get to heaven, God’s going to say, now this is what I really said. And I think we’re going to really be surprised at how much is revealed in the Scriptures that because of some fleshly desire that we didn’t put enough studying into something, we just didn’t get it.

I talked to a lot of people that have questions about the Old Testament and what did they really have to know? What did they really have to believe? And so some say, well, they had a pre-calvary gospel. Their gospel wasn’t the same as ours. They didn’t have to believe in the Lord like we do. And I’ve listened to this and I’ve read and studied and I’ve tried to figure it out. And I believe that they had to believe what we believe.

I believe they had to believe in the death, burial and resurrection of the Messiah, just like we believe. And they had to trust in His blood just like we do. I believe are scriptures that prove that. But there’s a lot of good people, I mean good Bible teachers that don’t believe it. But they’re clear on gospel, you know, for this time in which we live and believe the gospel is just like we believe it. But it’s here in the book and it’s the next chapter.

So we have to cover it. I don’t like skipping over scripture. But when he starts off in chapter 10 of book of Romans in verse one, brethren, feel the heartbeat of the apostle Paul. Why was God able to use him in such a great way? He says, my heart and prayer desire for Israel is that they might be saved. I believe he had caught a glimpse of heaven. He had traveled with Luke, who wrote the book of Acts and the book of Luke, and Luke’s the one that talks about and gives us the picture of hell in Luke 16.

So those two men, one had a vision of hell and the other one had a vision of heaven. And I imagine that between the two of them they had a pretty good picture. I was told the other day somebody said there was this until Larry Munson on the radio and he always comes out and now let me give you the picture. Let me give you the big picture. This is what’s going on. This is how they’re dressed and so forth.

And I think sometimes God said now here’s the picture. need to see. And God tries to paint a picture for us to visualize the reality of things that we can’t see, but it’s real. And we’re to take it by faith in what God says is true. So he makes the statement in verse 1, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge.

They have a zeal. There’s a lot of religions today that have zeals. I believe the Muslims, they have a zeal. And they believe that they’re doing Allah a great favor because they were told that this is how they honor Allah, their God. The only thing is that they’re following the religion made up by a man, but nobody would want to admit it because if they did then somebody else would kill them because it blasphemy. And yet there’s many Muslims that have accepted Christ as their Savior and realize the error of what’s being done and they have to disguise themselves, nobody know their name and so forth and go in certain countries because they would kill them if they did so.

did so. But they have a zeal. The Jews had a zeal. And many religions to date, they got zeal, but he says here, but not according to knowledge. In other words, they don’t know the truth. So in verse three, he says, for they be an ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness. Now, evidently, he’s talking to the nation of Israel, and he’s talking to them about in the previous chapters how that he had given them the law.

So God gave the law to Israel. So they were not lack of knowledge concerning the law for righteousness. They knew the law, but they couldn’t keep the law, but they were ignorant of the righteousness that God would give as a gift. Now, if they knew the one and didn’t know the other and were trying to earn their righteousness and then be rebuked by God, then evidently the righteousness of God in Christ must have been told to them, but they didn’t get it.

They didn’t get it. And if you’ll notice there in verse 32 of chapter 9, why didn’t they get it? Why didn’t they understand it? they saw it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at that stumbling stone. Now they couldn’t stumble at the stumbling stone which is Messiah. If they didn’t have them, if they didn’t know about them, but the Old Testament did tell them about the Messiah. And it says for their in verse 33, as it is written, behold I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense and And get this, whosoever believe it on him shall not be ashamed.

This is talking about for Christ’s righteousness. The righteousness that they could have had by faith, they stumbled over it because they had the law given to them. And so they just assume you’ve got to keep the law and yet they didn’t keep the law. They had a zeal but not according to truth. They didn’t understand something. They didn’t see something, just like people today. They’re religious people all over the world. And yet they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God, so therefore they go about to establish their own righteousness.

And the only ones who do that are those that don’t know the truth. Because once you do understand it and you know that it’s free, well then you don’t have to try to earn something that you know as a gift, but they don’t know it’s a gift. And so I do believe that this portion of scripture chapter 10 is talking about where this faith comes from. This new righteousness because he’s explaining how that God had dealt with the nation of Israel.

See chapter 9 generally we say talks about the past of Israel and chapter 10 the presence of Israel and chapter 11 the future of Israel and it’s kind of like thrown between chapter 8 and chapter 12. If you’re reading through the book of Romans and you get to chapter 8, you can just jump from over chapter 8 and go right into chapter 12 and it doesn’t miss a beat. So these three chapters are sitting right in here for a reason.

They’re written to explain some things that have been said before, how that salvation is free, you’re saved by faith, you’re never condemned, God will never cast you out and never lose you. And so he uses the nation of Israel as an example, a living example, how that there’s always a remnant. They cannot be annihilated. They will always be. And just like you as a child of God, you will always be a child of God. So we see that. We understand that.

So now look there in verse 3 of chapter 10. So we are talking about how a man is to be saved because he said, brother, that’s my heart’s desire for Israel that they might say, but they don’t know. And so he says, for they be an ignorant of God’s righteousness. But why were they ignorant? It wasn’t that God didn’t give it. They didn’t believe it. They wouldn’t believe it. They stumble over that. Many people stumble over the gospel because that’s too easy.

That’s too easy. It’s too simple. It’s got to be more than that. So they stumble over that truth. And it’s just by faith. They can’t believe it. I’ve had a man tell me one time, I can’t buy that. You’ll never convince me. Well, maybe not. One man tell me, says, you can’t tell me. I says, no doubt I can’t.

But he says, they go about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. So there is a by works righteousness and a by faith righteousness. By works God says you can’t have it because it’s not by works. No man is going to be justified in the eyes of God by his works by the law. And so there is another righteousness that God will give you and it’s by faith. So whenever you read the book of Romans in chapter 3, then it tells you that the righteousness of God, which is by faith in Jesus Christ.

And that’s the only way. Now look there in verse 4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that does what? That believes. Is that talking about now? Or was that before the cross? I believe that’s always been Christ is the end of the law for righteousness because he’s talking to the nation of Israel. It’s jumping on them because they had not believed and why haven’t they believed it? All these years, 1500 years of the nation and they wouldn’t believe.

And yet Christ would bend the end of the law for righteousness for them because God used the law to show that a man cannot save himself by his works. And even though they made the sacrifices in the temple, all those sacrifices did not pay for sin. And those sacrifices, the blood of bulls and goats, as it says in Hebrews chapter 10, will never take away sin. But now hold your place right here and just look at Romans chapter 3.

I want you to see this one verse. And Romans in chapter 3, look there in verse 25. whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, the satisfaction, the payment, through faith in His blood. To declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed to the forbearance of God, that’s Old Testament. That’s what they did before the cross. They still had to believe in the sacrifice, the payment that was going to be made by the death the Christ and had their faith in his blood because putting faith in the blood of bulls and goats won’t cut it.

It would never satisfy and the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin. And then he says in verse 26 to declare, I say at this time, this side of the cross, his righteousness. So before and after it’s all deals with Christ. And so now he’s talking to the nation of Israel, the Jews, referring to what they could have had and how that they were saved by faith the same way. And so now as he writes to the Romans and tells them that a man is saved by faith and all the world is guilty before God.

And even though the Jews had an advantage because they had the law given to them in Romans chapter 3, look now in verse 5. For Moses, now look where he’s going to, all all the way back to Moses. And this is written in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 30. And way back in the Old Testament, these scriptures were fixed in the raid are from that person of scripture, way back there, and this is what they mean. Now sometimes the scriptures tells us things that wasn’t previously known.

Now for example, when you read in the book of Jude, when it says an Enoch walked with God and that he was a preacher, and he preached this, it says that he preached about the Son of God, the Lord, coming in glory to execute judgment upon all the wicked, and has about three verses there. But whenever you go back to the Old Testament where it says they’re in chapter five of the book of Genesis, Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him.

That’s all there is. Not until we read the book of Jude in the New Testament right before the book of Revelation do we find out that Enoch was a preacher and he preached about the Lord and that’s Jesus Christ coming in power and great glory and to execute judgment. But we wouldn’t have known that if it hadn’t been revealed here in the book of Jude. So there’s a lot of things they were told and a lot of things they knew and yet not written down in Scripture.

So how do you know that? Well, remember it makes this statement in the book of 2 Peter in chapter 2 where it makes the statement that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Talk about how wicked the world was, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And God used him to build an art for the saving of his household and the whole human race. But when you read 2 Peter in chapter 2, it makes this statement.

And it was a preacher of righteousness. Now we didn’t know that he was a preacher of righteousness. Never said that. Not when you read back there in the Old Testament. But he was a preacher of righteousness. Now we’re talking about man’s righteousness, so you think you’d be talking about the righteousness of God. So see, they did preach. And what about the message before it was written down? In Romans in chapter 10, it talks about their line is going out through all the earth, talking about the message that is preached by the revolving of the stars and the sun and the earth and all the heavens.

So when you read the book of Psalms in the 19th chapter, when it says, and I saw the handi work of God. And he talks about how that God had done all these things and that the sun goes forth as a strong man to run a race. And all those things were to teach a story. And the stars had meaning. The sun had a meaning. The moon had a meaning. And so God taught many things. That’s why we today, we have many people that have twisted astronomy and turn it into astrology and turn it into something wicked.

At the same time, the 12 signs of the Zodiac are mentioned in the scripture in the book of Job. So God is the one who designed the Zodiac, the 12 signs. And those 12 signs are the teachings of the Bible. But today they have been corrupted. And now we have the complete word of God, so we don’t use those anymore. But now the people have taken that which God has given and begin to worship the heavens and tried to make meanings out of all of it and under what sign were you born.

And maybe some of y’all got up and read your horoscope this morning. If you did, that’s wickedness. That’s wickedness and ungodliness. And so an abomination to God, that’s not why God gave it. Just like there’s people today, they may worship the church house And they worship the Bible, but not the God that made the world and the God that made the Word. They don’t worship Him. And so people can worship the creature more than they create her. So things change.

But the Word of God still means what God intended. So here in the book of Romans in chapter 10, look here in verse 5, for Moses described the righteousness which is of the law that the man which doeth them shall live by them.” In other words, if you want to live and in chapter 8 of the book of Deuteronomy it talks about this and also in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 30 it talks about this. But he says, I said before you this day to choose life or death.

In other words whether you live or die and he’s talking about physically there. Obey my law. And so there’s laws that God gave to the nation of Israel that affected their protection upon the earth, their blessings of God upon their land and their help, all these things, and they had to make choices. They make the right one, God blessed, they didn’t, God cursed. So God said it before them, they had decisions to make, but they did not keep the law.

They didn’t obey the law. So the law was the reveal that every man is sinned. Come short of God’s profession. But look in verse 6. But the righteousness which is of faith, so now in verse 5 the righteousness of the law and verse 6 the righteousness which is by faith. So chapter 10 I believe is time to get us to understand if you’re not saved by the law and you’re saved by faith. Where does faith come from? Where do you get it?

He got the law from God. Do you get faith from God? So there are people who believe that by grace or you say through faith and that, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God and they think that the faith is the gift of God and they translate Ephesians 2, 8, 9 to mean that. So that means that if you want to be saved, you have to wait until God gives you the faith. give me the faith. So if that’s true, then no man can be saved until God gives him the faith.

And if he doesn’t trust the Lord, it’s not his fault, it’s God’s fault. So that’s fatalistic. That’s not what the word of God teaches. You see, faith is not the gift of God. Be in saved and have an eternal life. That’s the gift of God. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself. It’s the gift of God. That’s the reference to your salvation. That’s free. But where do you get the faith from? Because some people believe and some people don’t believe.

Every man is born with the ability to trust. You start with your parents. You have to trust them. Maybe you knew it or didn’t know it. But you trust in the feed you and protect you and do whatever for you. But as you grow, you may get to the place where you have doubts about your mom and your dad. Whether or not they can do this or do that. And you question whether or not there’s bright and wise as you once thought they were.

And then after you live about another 30 years you’ll find out what they were smarter than I thought. But you can put your faith in anything. You see a man can put his faith in the pure to take him to heaven, but that doesn’t mean that you can take you there You can put your faith in this church to take it to heaven, but that doesn’t mean it can take you there You see you’re the one that determines where you place the faith so you can place your faith in the Lord or you can place your faith in things But the thing is Can that thing that object of your faith do what you believe it can do?

see it’s not the size of my faith that gets me to heaven, it’s the object of my faith. I can put a lot of faith in this microphone that takes me to heaven and I got lots of faith. I really believe that doesn’t make Mount that hill of beans that they don’t have no power and so a man can trust in his good works and it has no power. So he says when you trust Christ as your Savior he gives you eternal life you go to heaven or what he did.

So where does the faith come from. So then, so then you know that you need it because that’s where you get the faith of righteousness. A righteousness God gives you by faith. Where are you going to get this faith from? So look there in verse 17 and you are on the line this verse in your Bible if you haven’t underlined it yet. So all it calls we’re talking about if a man is saved by faith then where does it come from?

So faith cometh by what? Hearing and hearing by the word of God. And you can’t trust in the Lord unless you hear about the Lord. And then you can’t hear about the Lord unless somebody tells you about the Lord. And so therefore, that’s why a man is to speak with the mouth and confess with the mouth of what he believes in his heart so that others can hear and understand how to be saved. It’s not a matter that you and I have to go up into heaven and get a hold of God and bring him down here.

And we don’t have to go down into the pits of hell and get a hold of God and bring him up here. So I don’t have to ascend or descend. And yet this scripture comes from the book of Deuteronomy, where it says, shall you ascend into heaven and bring down the Messiah? Or reach down into hell and bring up the Messiah? Wait a minute, what’s the Messiah doing in hell?

Because that’s what the scripture says. See there in verse six, but the righteous, which is of faith, speaketh on this wise, say, not in thine heart, who shall ascend in the heaven? That means to bring the Messiah down. Who shall ascend in the heaven? That is to bring Christ down from above. This is a quote from the Old Testament that was said by Moses. You say, well, Moses didn’t understand anything about Jesus Christ. Doesn’t it say in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11 that Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ to be greater riches than the treasures in Egypt?

So evidently he made his decision based upon Jesus Christ and upon the treasures that he would have with the Lord. And therefore he was able to muster up, I guess, the courage to leave everything that he had and to take a stand that he was going to deliver Israel from the iron grips of Egypt. The only problem was that he was willing to do it 40 years before God was ready. He’s going to do the same thing, but he did it 40 years later.

The timing wasn’t right. He was the right person, because he said he thought that God was going to deliver Israel by his hand, but they didn’t believe it. And so he left and went on the backside of the desert for 40 years. He learned the ways of the world for 40 years and came to the conclusion, look what I am. 40 years on the backside of the desert, realizing that he wasn’t nothing. And God had to unlearn him, teach him some new things.

And then God had to retrain him. And so the man lived to be 120 years old and a great man. But now look what he says in verse 8. And this is all in the Old Testament in the book of Deuteronomy. Verse 8 says, for what? But what sayeth it? The word, excuse me verse 7, let’s get verse 7. Or who shall descend into the deep? That is to bring up Christ again from the dead. If this is what it meant to bring up Christ again from the dead, then evidently they knew that Christ, the Messiah, came from heaven and was on the earth and will be there and will be killed and come back again from the dead.

That’s Old Testament. So they knew that the sacrifices that they were making would not save them, because they were not to trust in them. Well, if they weren’t to trust in those sacrifices, just what then were they to trust in? God doesn’t save people two different ways. Everybody’s always saved the same way. We’re saved by grace through faith. They were saved looking forward to the cross, the payment the Messiah would make, and we’re saved looking back to that very same event.

So we’re saved by faith on both sides of the cross. Then look what he says. In verse 8, but what’s said that the word is nigh the even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. Why should we preach? Why should I tell people how to have eternal life? Because they can’t be saved except by faith and they can’t have faith to trust the Lord unless we tell the gospel message. So we preach the gospel so that people can hear and understand it and and trust the Lord.

We are not responsible for their decision. I am not responsible for any man trusting Christ or rejecting Christ. I have nothing to do with that. I and you are just to be faithful to give the gospel. So whenever you give out a track, you’re given out the gospel. When you get people to read a book or you talk to them on the telephone, see you don’t have to be behind this podium up here to be a preacher of the gospel.

Every child of God is to preach the gospel some way or another. So you preach. And by that, somebody liable to believe. And their eternal destination rests upon that truth. Now, if you don’t really believe that, then you won’t have a great desire to get it out. But if you really believe that, then you do. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message.

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 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. 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 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 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 blessings of life are dependent upon our obedience to the Lord. rewards in heaven are dependent upon your obedience to the Lord. If you don’t work, you know get the reward in it. You’ve got to do what God says to do. So in the Bible in the book of James in chapter 2, look there in verse 24. Yee-seah, then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only. Now here we’re not talking about salvation, how to get to heaven.

going to heaven, you’re just abide by faith without works. But we’re not talking about getting to heaven here. We’re talking about living for the Lord, serving the Lord. We’re talking about being rewarded when we get to heaven and getting God’s blessings now. We’re talking about not being chastened while we’re in this world. Look there in verse 14, what does it profit my brethren? Though a man say he hath faith and have not works can faith save them, not from the chasing hand of God.

No. Oh, as far as the salvation, that’s a finished transaction. We’re not discussing that anymore because now after you’re saved, your life revolves around your service to the Lord. Salvation was free. Service is going to cost you. That’s the discipleship. No man is to be a disciple of Christ to be saved. He simply trusts Christ to save your He has eternal life. That’s what gets Him into the family of God. Now as a child of God, you can choose to be a disciple of Christ.

If you’re going to follow him, you’re going to serve him, then God says, it’s going to cost you, bud. It’s not going to be a free ride. He says, I’ll bless you, but it’s going to be because of what you do. I’ll reward you when you get to heaven. There’s going to be a result of what you do. And if you don’t serve me, he’s not going to chase in you, but that’s going to be a result of what you do.

So there’s a lot that has to depend upon me, and I’m not supposed to just turn everything over to God. I’m not supposed to let God do everything, Because God’s told me certain things to do. For example, when I was in Colorado we had some buses. When it had been something for me to say, I’m not going to drive the bus today, I’m just going to turn it all over to God and let God drive the bus today. Just let God do it all.

I don’t want any credit, I’m not going to teach today, and I’m not going to preach today, I’m not going to do anything today. I want God to get all the glory. Isn’t that spiritual? Look, that sounds wonderful. Doesn’t it sound sweet? But it stinks in the nozzles of God. Why? Because you don’t turn over to God and you don’t commit to God anything God told you to do. God will do what God will do and you’re to do what you’re supposed to do.

And the thing that you turn over to God is the things that you can’t do. Things that you’re not supposed to do. What will cause you stress and strain is trying to bear that which God never told you to bear. Now here in the book of James he says in verse 15, if a brother or sister be naked, destitute of daily food. One of you saying to them, be part and peace for your warmth and feel, isn’t that spiritual?

But you didn’t give him thing to eat, didn’t give anything to wear. What you said was spiritual, that was wonderful, but you really didn’t do anything. Can faith save you without works? No, not for the Christian life. You see, you don’t get rewards in heaven, you don’t get blessings down here unless you do what God tells you to do. And so You cannot just say what you’re Christian life. I’m just gonna turn everything over to God No, because God has turned a lot of things over to you and says but you do this and you do this and you did that’s what causes the struggle That’s what causes the wrestling.

That’s what causes the warfare. That’s where the fight is and There’s a lot of Christians don’t want to fight they don’t want to struggle They don’t want to they don’t want to do what God tells them to do they want to be disobedient, but God bless me God bless me It won’t work that way Look at her James in chapter. The word says submit yourself that’s something that you do. You see in Christian service is faith plus your works.

Faith and what? Faith that what God tells you to flee you flee. Faith in what God tells you to fight you fight. And what God tells you to follow you follow. Faith is doing what God tells you to do with your life. life. That’s living by faith. And therefore, if your faith is believing that God says to flee this, I flee. My works is what gives action to my faith. And if I don’t do the work, God says your faith is dead.

Your faith is in vain. And we’re not talking about getting to heaven because our faith is in Christ’s work for salvation. He did his job. We’re trusting that. God says your rewards in heaven and your blessings now is based upon your faith plus your works. So you’re to believe that what God said is true and because you believe it, you do it. And if you don’t do it, you don’t believe it. And he says your faith is in vain.

Now notice they’re also in verse 7. He says, resist the devil. You don’t tell God to resist the devil, you resist the devil. That’s things you’re supposed to do. You’re not, well just let God do it all. No God don’t want to do it all. God will do for you what you can’t do but you’re going to do what you have to do and supposed to do. In other words, God, you might say, Lord, I want you to meet my needs.

But you’ll lay you rascal, you stay home and you won’t go to work. But I’m living by faith. You ain’t living by faith. You’re a fool. You won’t go to meet your needs. God said, I’ll meet your needs. Get off your can and go to work. You’d be surprised how much your needs will be met. It works God’s way. And God said, if a man don’t work, he ought not what? He ought not eat. Now I’m talking about those who can.

We have a lot of people who can and don’t. Look at another verse. Look there in verse 8. He says, draw a nigh, that’s something you do. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, cleanse your hands. That’s something you do. You cleanse your hands. Purify your heart. That’s something that you do. And look down at what he says in verse 11. Speak not evil one of another. That’s something that you do. Yes, you’re going to have those battles in your life where somebody does you wrong and you want to speak evil back against them.

Well, I’m just going to turn it all over the Lord. What do you do? You’re going to blast them out? You didn’t turn that over the Lord. God’s worth speaking no evil because of my faith that God says don’t do that. Then I’m going to put it into practice and not do that. That’s what that means. That’s how you live by faith. Living by faith is walking and obedience to the word of God, not sitting around trying to talk spiritual slang and love those and thinking, I’m spiritually because I said the right, I just cast it all on the Lord.

You cast on the Lord what God says you to cast on the Lord and that’s the thing that God said He’ll do His promises and don’t try to do God’s job and you do what you’re supposed to do, that’s your job. And you’d be surprised how it’ll work and it will work. you can Bible turn to the book of Romans in chapter eight. The book of Romans and chapter eight. Romans chapter eight look there in verse 13. As a child of God you have a choice.

You can obey the Lord or you can disobey the Lord but you still this child. Once you’ve trusted Him as your Savior you’re God’s child forever. And once you’re His child God says you’ve got this choice of either obedience or disobedience. He says there at verse 13, for if ye live after the flesh, that means that’s your choice. You can choose to live after the flesh or your old sinful nature. You can do that. But God said he’s gonna have to chase in you.

Maybe take you home before your time. Bring a little chasing into your life and cause all kind of things that can happen to you. God is a God of variety. He might use a lot of different things. He says, but if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, that means that this body that you have by which you move and think and act and go through this body of yours, which is an instrument, can be an instrument of righteousness or an instrument of unrighteousness.

It’s your choice. The body in itself is not sinful. It’s how it’s used. And he says, do mortify the deeds of the body. That’s your choice. something that you do. Don’t say, God do it for me. No, God don’t do it for you. God will allow temptation to come before you. Well, I’m just going to cast it all upon the Lord. Yes, what on the Lord? And then you go ahead and do the temptation. Well, I just, that’s me.

That’s just the way that I am. And now I just have to trust God. You’re not trusting God. You’re rebaying the God. He says, free the temptation. You disobeyed God. You’re not living by faith. You’re not walk in the way God says to walk, and God’s going to have to chase you. And many of God’s children are chasing. They don’t have the peace and joy and the happens that they all have because they’re living in rebellion. But they talk a spiritual fight.

But don’t do the battle. You can’t have it. There’s things that you are supposed to do as a child of God. Take your Bible and turn there to the book of Philippians in chapter two. The book of Philippians and chapter two. This is the verse that we read this morning. In the beginning of the service, in verse 12, this is on page 12, 20, 59 in an old scope of reference Bible. But those are in verse 12. Wherefore it might be love it, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now all of us.

also much more in my absence. Look what he says. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Work out your own salvation. You’re working out something that God put in, but you’re not working for it. You say salvation is something that God does for you when you trusted him as your Savior and he saves you from hell. Now he says what he has put in, you work out. God may give you 10 acres of ground and expects you to work the ground and produce something.

He has saved you and given you life to live like giving you ten acres of ground is like giving you time to live. Now he said I want some fruit on the ground. You may have briars and thorns on your ten acres and somebody else has planted it in fruit and God’s gonna reward them and punish you because of your wickedness and your rebellion. You’re the one that decides whether or not am I gonna put anything on that ten acres of ground or am I gonna let it go to waste, do nothing with it.

That’s what you’re doing with your life when you don’t sow the seeds of truth into your life. He makes a statement. Work out your own salvation is not talking about working for salvation. It’s talking about you are, as you go through this life, God wants to save you from the things that happens to you in life. Not save you from them, but save you through them because you’re going to go through tribulation and trials and testing, temptations, all these things.

And God wants to deliver you from all these things. And you should depend upon the Lord to give you the strength and the grace. Obey in His Word that He told you certain things to flee. He told you certain things to follow. He told you some things to fight. He says, so when you do all of those things, He says, I will give you the strength and the grace. All you’ve got to do is flee the things I tell you to flee.

Fight the things I tell you to fight and follow the the things I tell you to follow because of faith, because I told you so. He said, and you’ll have victory, you’ll have escape, and you’ll win, and you’ll get rewarded, and you’ll get blessings, and you won’t have to be chastened. Now, all of life is a choice. You’re going to have one or the other. So he says, in fear and trembling, you should have a little fear and a little trembling that is you live every day you might miss the will of God.

Now you’re going to have tribulations. Some may come tomorrow. But when it comes, you should want that tribulation, which is a testing upon your character and your faithfulness to the Lord. You want to pass through that testing with flying colors. You want to go through that thing and learn what God wants you to learn. And you want to stand the way God wants you to stand. And you ought to have fear in your life that you’ll not stand. That Satan will be stronger than you and you’ll You’ll need to walk close to the Lord.

That’s what he’s talking about. He says they’re in verse 13, for it is God’s which worketh where, in you, to will and to perform on his own good pleasure. God has a purpose in your life, why he allows to happen to you, what happens to you. And he says there’s things that you are supposed to do, and if you’ll do what he says do, God says, I’ll do what I promise that I’ll do, and you can win. And if you don’t, you won’t.

Now I want you to turn in your Bible to 1 Timothy 6, 1 Timothy and chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6 and look there in verse 11. Remember there’s things that you have to do, they’re not done for you. The Bible tells us we’re supposed to study the Word of God. Well I’m just going to let God do it. No, wait a minute. God doesn’t have to study the Word. No, but then you’re going to have to see you sometimes people giving God back their responsibilities No, don’t give God back his your response, but God told you to do certain things you do those you see it’s faith plus Works and if you don’t have the work you don’t have the faith your faith is dead in the Lord Now we’re not talking about like I said you’re not talking about how to get to heaven because that’s when you trusted

Christ is your savior We’re talking about your service after you have been saved So 1 Timothy chapter 6, look at verse 11, but thou, oh man of God, what does it say? Flee these things. So there’s things you are supposed to flee. Get away from. Not boldly go where no man is on before. There’s things that God says don’t do this. Get away from it. Not see how close you can get to the edge of sin without getting contaminated.

He says this, flee these things. Now what things are you talking about up above when he talks about money or the love of money is the root of all evil. And many people, that is their goal in life. They love money. Haven’t you ever thought about how happy you would be if you had more money? That’s the biggest joke there is. Money doesn’t make you happy. One guy says, you know there’s one thing money can’t do. What’s that? Buy poverty?

I don’t know about that. A lot of people are going to have money and still be poverty-stricken. You don’t have to have money to make you happy. You can be happy when you don’t have anything if your joy is in the Lord. Now, look what else? She says, flee these things. Look at the next word. And follow after what? Righteousness. That’s something that you do. do. So there’s things in your life that God says to flee. You say, what are all of them?

You study the Bible and you find them. There’s a lot of things God says to flee. So there’s things that you’re not supposed to do. Follow that’s something that you’re supposed to do. God says, follow after righteousness. That means that you study the Bible and find everything that God says for you to do that’s right and you do it. You say, well, how much? How much do you want to follow? And how many blessings do you want? How many rewards do you want?

it’s open. You don’t have to govern yourself according to what somebody else is doing. You’re not in a rat race with some other Christian. This church is not competing with another church. What do we want? That’s what it depends upon. Then he says here, follow after righteousness, get this godliness, faith, love, patience, meeting. Those are things that you make decisions concerning. You don’t cast everything on the Lord. The things you cast upon the Lord is the thing that God said that he will give me the strength and the grace to go through these tribulations, but I can’t cast that tribulation on God.

God, I want that tribulation. Well, what am I going to cast on him? I am leaning up on him by doing what he says to do. He says to be patient, to love, to forgive, all these things. Do that. That’s leaning on the Lord. That’s depending upon God. That’s casting my cares upon the Lord when you obey God and do what he says to do with your life. Do you really believe that one day you’ll stand at the Judgement City of Christ and God’s going to reward you for what you’ve done?

I really believe that. If you really believe that and you’ve got faith that that is true, why shouldn’t your belief in that affect the way you live then? That should make you be faithful to serve alone. That truth, faith in that, believing that should mean that I should watch what I do with my life because I know one day I’ll stand at that Judgement City of Christ. Do You believe that Christ is coming back soon? That He could come back at any moment?

Do you really believe that your faith in that truth should motivate you to be faithful now? You see, you don’t have to have somebody always trying to motivate you to serve a Lord. Why? Because your knowledge of truth motivates you and you’re motivated by that and not by some man or some preacher. Look what he says here. He says in the next verse in verse 12, what’s the word, fight? There’s things to flee. There’s things to follow, there’s things to fight, fight the good fight of faith.

They hold on eternal life. We’re in two-dollar call because God says this is what He wants us to do. See, having eternal life, Jesus Christ is eternal life. He has placed that within us and He said, I’ll never leave you, never forsake it. That’s why you can’t lose eternal life. It’s the Lord. And now He says because of what He has placed within it, let God live through you. Let these truths in God’s word motivate your life. You’d be surprised that difference that it can make.

Look in 2 Timothy chapter 2. Just turn to the right to 2 Timothy chapter 2. And look there in verse 15. You’ll notice this is something that you are supposed to do. You, Sir Lord, you’ll be obedient. Yes, you have to study, and yes, study, and is a weariness of the flesh. Yes, you get weary doing things that God says to do. It is a struggle, it is a battle, it is a war. Stop looking for the life of these.

Well, I just don’t like all the struggle, and I just don’t like all the battles, and I just don’t like all the shut up. And do what you’re told to do. Stop whining and complaining, just be obedient. Do right! Stop using people, churches, preachers, as an excuse for your own disobedient. Well, I don’t go to church because of those hypocrites at church. That’s amazing. Those same hypocrites go to the grocery store, but they need groceries. They still go. Those hypocrites are at the service station, but when they need gas, they still go to the grocery store.

gas they still go get the gas. I’m going to get gas. What? Hippocrates over there. It’s amazing that only hypocrites go to church. Isn’t that true? No, no hypocrites nowhere but in church. There’s hypocrites everywhere but you don’t stop living and stop doing right because there’s hypocrites. Messing everything up. You still do what you’re supposed to do. Second Timothy 2, 15 says in verse 15, study to show thyself approved. Study. Well, I don’t like to study. Don’t talk about what you don’t like.

Do what God says do. Oh, obey God. So I don’t have time. Yes, you do. Every man has the same amount of time. You say, well, just get up earlier in the morning. Go to bed later at night. And you’d be surprised what you do. You do what you really want to do. If you don’t study the Bible, you don’t want to study the Bible. You’ll do what you really want. Obeyed God. Study this book. Spend time memorizing scriptures.

Pray in the God. I don’t have time to find them too busy. If you’re too busy to pray, you’re too busy. The greatest form of work you as a child of God will ever do is learn in the praise, spending time with God. Learn to obey the Lord and do what He says to do. Look at in verse 16. Verse 16 says, shun profane and vain babbles. There’s things to shun. Look down in verse 19, the last part of verse 19 says, and let everyone that name of the name of Christ do what?

Depart from what? Depart from iniquity. That’s something you do. Not make excuses for your sins in your life and habits in your life that you know it’s not right. Correct the problem. Stop excusing yourself. Work on the problem. You say, what’s the struggle? It’s a battle. Of course it is. But do it. Don’t quit always hanging and always fighting the battle. Look at yourself and see what you’re doing how you’re doing spiritually. How strong are you? Are you surrendering, giving in, defeated, weak, down, complaining, murmuring, griping all the time?

Wake up, you’re Christian. Live like a Christian. Think like a Christian. Fight like a Christian. And you’d be surprised the strength that God will give you if you’re only take him at his word and believe him and practice that which God says to do. Look at verse 22. Flea, there it is again. Flea also useful lusts, but do what? What’s the next word? Follow. Follow what? Follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, and then that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

These are things that you do. There’s things that I do and you’d be surprised how so much in your life can be done if we would only simply obey the Lord. Now I want you to listen to me just for a second. I’ll have time to read all these scriptures to you. Of you turned all of them. But I know that in the book of 1 Corinthians and chapter 9 talks where Paul is in a battle. And I’ve had people sometimes say to me, Yankee, you shouldn’t say I did it.

You should say the Lord did it. I thought oh that sounds so much more spiritual. But it’s always the person who doesn’t win soul that tells me I should never take credit for winning a person for the Lord. It was the Lord that did it. But you ought to see how difficult it was when the Lord had to do it all by himself. God uses people. This preacher one time went to see this man and he had a beautiful farm, beautiful crop.

Everything was gorgeous. And the preacher once he says, look what God did for you. Look what God gave to you. He says, you know, you ought to tie on everything that God’s given to you, everything that you have to give, because look what God did for you. He says, Mr. He says, you ought to see what this place looked like when God had it all by himself. You got work to do. God works through you. You don’t be lazy and try to, well, I just get him all the credit to God.

Of course, he can get all the credit. But when he makes the statement, let every man receive his own reward according to his own what? His His own labor, every man has to labor. No labor, no rewards, no blessings. You asked for it. You ever seen that program years ago, you asked for it? You want God to bless you? Then do what will bring it. You want God to chase it? You don’t do anything. It’ll happen to become natural.

But Paul had to fight. He made this statement in verse 26, I therefore so run, I, I, I run. God is uncertain, so fight I fight, I fight, I fight, I fight. Not God, me, I fight, I’ve got to fight in this battle. I’ve got to struggle. And I’m always battling sometimes whether I should or should not do it. Will I, will I not? Things that I have to control my tongue on, sometimes I like to take a fist and give somebody on a Hawaiian punch with holy love.

And I’ll say, well that’s that shankian. The Lord says love him and I have to hold myself back once in a while. He makes a statement in verse 27, but I keep under my body or bring my body into subjection. I go, I, I, I, I, somebody said, no, no, no, it’s not, I, it’s the Lord. No, God will do what God will do. And you better do what you are supposed to do. And he said, well, now I go to the hospital and there’s a person laying there in bed and they’re going to face surgery.

Maybe they’re dying of cancer and I’ll tell that person, all you can do. In your situation, just commit everything to the Lord, turn everything over to the Lord. You say, well, did I have a credit? No, no, no. Because some things lies beyond your power to do anything about. And that which lies beyond your power to do anything about it, totally trusts the Lord. But if you got the power to do something about it, what should you do? Do something about it.

Instead of doing nothing, inspecting God to do it. Whenever the Lord sent the angel in there to the release, Peter, He broke the change and tore down the door, but he told Peter put on your shoes Why did he help Peter put on his shoes? That’s something Peter could do But Peter couldn’t break down that door and break off those chains God did that and as you obey God You expect God to do what God promised that he will do and he’s gonna honor you and he’s gonna bless you And you’re trusting his word and depending upon his works.

That’s why you flee those certainly why you flee that because God says to do it Why are you following after that? Because God says to do it. Why are you fighting such a battle? Because God says to fight faith makes you flee and Faith makes you follow and faith will make you fight But you got to find out what to flee and what to follow and what to fight Because life is so short you can spend your whole life on the wrong things like the man who climbed the ladder for 20 years and Find out it was leaning on the wrong wall Wouldn’t that be a shame Look up here This hand represent you and me this represents sin we all have sin on us now God says that he what he loves us Now he hates our sin, but he does love us now remember this look

I may holler and yell and scream at you, but you know I love you. You know that don’t you don’t you? I do But God says he loves us, but he don’t like what we do wrong and God says for us to pay for that is eternal separation from God and hell But God doesn’t want us to go to hell. He loves us. He wants us to go to heaven to go to heaven You have to be perfect as righteous as God So Jesus Christ came into the world to pay for our sins because you see we can’t earn our way to heaven We can’t do anything about this So Jesus Christ is hand-ropered in the Lord came into the world.

He loves us He hates our sin because the separates us from so Christ took the sin Pay for them the cross came back from the dead and he said if we’ll be leave it He did it for us did put that payment our account we go to heaven or what he did for us There’s no tricks that will give you. That’s a free gift. All you do is put your faith in what the work that he did and you have eternal life by faith alone without works.

After you trust Christ as your Savior, now God says he wants you to obey him in other areas. You obey him on the gospel and you got eternal life. You obey him on the other thing and you’ll have victory in your Christian life and rewards when you get to heaven. It’s your choice, but trustful wouldn’t believe him. It will work. Let’s play, shall we? You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr.

Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, 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, 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. 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.

Now take your Bible and turn there to the book of Matthew And chapter 5, as you know we’ve been talking a little bit about the warfare that we’re in, the battle, the inner soldier, and put on the whole armor of God, being strong in the power of His might, and talking a little bit about the power of God and what we’re supposed to do. Well, this morning I want to talk to you about flea, follow, fight, and faith. words for the Christian life.

There’s things to flee, there’s things to follow, there’s things to fight, and all of it is because of your faith. In the book of Matthew chapter 5, if you will, they’re in verse 14. Verse 14 says, ye are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, on a candlestick and it give a flight unto all that are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So letting your light shine. How many of you have ever heard of the song, this little light of mine? What am I going to do? I’m going to let it shine and we always talk about this little light of mine. Well, what’s What’s wrong with having a big light? But we usually sing this little light of mine, but there’s nothing wrong with having a big light.

But what is this light? This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. Well, look there in verse 16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your what? Good works. Good works is the light that they’re supposed to see. There’s something about your life. Something to good about your life. your works that you’re supposed to perform that’s supposed to make a difference. Through those works you’re to glorify your Father which is in heaven and through those works they’re able to see something.

Maybe they’re supposed to see your Father through your good works. Now, I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of James chapter 2 and verse 24. But before we discuss that verse there in the book of James. I want to explain a few things to you first of all. We’re told in the word of God that salvation is by grace through faith. That means that it’s by faith and faith alone. You know the verse, Ephesians 2, 8, 9, 4, by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. Being saved means that you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. He gives to you eternal life. That is a finished transaction that’s over and done with the very moment that you trusted Christ as your Savior. You have been saved from the penalty of sin. You have eternal life. You’re going to heaven when you die. You were saved by faith without works. Without your works. It was by the work of Christ.

He said it is finished. That means He did on the cross all that was needed for your salvation from hell. So you trusted Him as your Savior and so by faith in what Christ did you put your confidence in His payment. You’re not putting your confidence in your good works but in His good works and God saves you in that alone. Satan always wants to mess up the message. So he tells people, though, you’ll have to earn your salvation.

You’ve got to work for it. So he has works to it. Well, we know that that’s a false message. Salvation is by grace and grace alone. Now that you have trust in Christ as your Savior, what about service? Service is you serving the Lord. That’s your service after you have been saved. Well, now is it by faith? Is it by works? Or what is it now? We often hear people make these statements. The Christian life is simply a life of letting go and just letting God.

That sounds very good. Sounds very spiritual. Another way is just handed all over to God. Turn everything in your life over to God. That sounds good. That’s nothing wrong with that. Sounds spiritual. Another one is don’t ever say that you did it. Ah, I did it. And God did everything in the Christian’s life. Another one is just turn everything over to the Lord and let God handle it all. That all sounds good. But then where’s the war? Where’s the battle?

Where’s the struggle? Where’s this wrestling? What do I do? If I’m supposed to just turn everything over to God, well, what am I supposed to do? If I’m just let him do everything, do I do anything? Where’s my responsibility? Now, if God does everything, then just what do I do? The Christian life is a fight, the Christian life is a war, the Christian life is a struggle, and equal opportunities between God and you. In other words, there’s things that God has promised that He will do, and there’s things that we promise that we’re supposed to do as a child of God.

Whenever a man and a woman get married, many times they think that that I do was a total finished transaction for the rest of their life, and it was one lot payment. But you forget that whenever you said I do to that woman or to that man, you promised that you was going to make installments for the rest of your life. You promise that every day of your life you are going to love that man. You were gonna honor that man.

You were gonna respect that man. That’s what you promised and you have your installments due every month. Now what some people come along and they say later on, I don’t love him anymore. You mean you don’t love him anymore? You mean you’re not gonna pay his dues anymore? You You promised, you owed. You made an agreement, well how long was that agreement? Till one of them was dead. Oh, that’s a long time. Have you ever took it out alone for a car?

And after you’ve made that loan, $20,000, and then you wish you hadn’t done it, you can park your car, but you can’t park the payments. And you made an agreement that every month at a certain time you’re gonna make those installments, those payments. Some people can just pay it all off at one time. That’s one. If you pay it all off at one time, you don’t have to make any payments. But if you don’t, you’ve got to make payments until it’s paid.

When you got married, you promised your wife that you would love your wife and you would take care of your wife and provide for your wife and all the in sickness, you’re still going to pay. When you’re out of work, you’re still going to pay. When you don’t have anything, you’re still going to pay. You promised a certain amount to that wife all the days of her life. Some people come up bankrupt. So I can’t pay no more because I don’t love no more.

I don’t want to know more. I don’t want him anymore. I don’t let him know more. Aren’t you glad that your Heavenly Father in heaven is not like us? When He saved us, our salvation from hell was not made on the installment plan. When Christ came and He made a death payment, He paid for all of our sins once and for all. Not that I trusted Him as my Savior, and I’m saved up to this point, but when I sin some more, He got to make another installment payment.

And then by sin some more, He got to make another payment, and then every day He got to make some more payments to pay for the sins that I commit. He paid for all of my sins once and for all as a finished transaction. And He promised He’d never cast me out to finish the deal. Christian life is where you have decided in your mind I’m gonna serve the Lord. I owe God. I owe God. And God said I promise that this is what I’m gonna do for you.

So both of us have agreed to something. As a child of God, I believe every one of us is his children should commit ourselves to the Lord that we’re going to serve the Lord. That means every day I owe God. For what he’s done for me, I owe God. My service, which is a reasonable thing to give back to him. Or if I don’t do it, it can never take that away because that was a finished transaction. But the blessings of life are dependent upon our obedience to the Lord.

Rewards in heaven are dependent upon your obedience. to the Lord. You don’t work, you don’t get the reward. You’ve got to do what God says to do. So in the Bible in the book of James in chapter 2, look there in verse 24, ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only. Now here we’re not talking about salvation, how to get to heaven because going to heaven you’re justified by faith without works.

But we’re We’re not talking about getting to heaven here. We’re talking about living for the Lord, serving the Lord. We’re talking about being rewarded when we get to heaven and getting God’s blessings now. We’re talking about not being chastened while we’re in this world. Look there in verse 14, what does it profit my brethren? Though a man say he hath faith and have not works, can faith save him? Not from the chasing hand of God know. Oh, as far the salvation.

That’s a finished transaction. We’re not discussing that anymore because now after your saved, your life revolves around your service to the Lord. Salvation was free. Service is going to cost you. That’s discipleship. No man is to be a disciple of Christ to be saved. He simply trusts Christ to save your, he has eternal life. That’s what gets him into the family of God. Now as a child of God you can choose to be a disciple of Christ. If you’re going to follow Him, you’re going to serve Him, then God says, it’s going to cost you, bud.

It’s not going to be a free ride. He says, I’ll bless you, but it’s going to be because of what you do. I’ll reward you when you get to heaven. There’s going to be a result of what you do. And if you don’t serve me, he’s not going to chase you. But that’s going to be a result of what you do. So there’s a lot that has to depend upon me. And I’m not supposed to just turn everything over to God.

I’m not supposed to let God do everything because God’s told me certain things to do. For example, when I was in Colorado, we had some buses. When it had been something for me to say, I’m not going to drive the bus today. I’m just going to turn it all over to God and let God drive the bus today. Just let God do it all. I don’t want any credit. I’m not going to teach today and I’m not going to preach today.

I’m not going to do anything today. I want God to get all the glory. Isn’t that spiritual? Isn’t that sound wonderful? Doesn’t it sound sweet? But it stinks in the nozzles of God. Why? Because you don’t turn over to God and you don’t commit to God. Anything God told you to do. God will do what God will do and you’re to do what you’re supposed to do. And the thing that you turn over to God is the things that you can’t do.

Things that you’re not supposed to do. What will cause you stress and strain is trying to bear that which God never told you to bear. Now, here in the book of James, he says in verse 15, if a brother or sister be naked destitute of daily food, one of you say to them, be part in peace for your warmth and field, isn’t that spiritual? But you didn’t give him thing to eat. Didn’t give him anything to wear. What you said was spiritual that was wonderful, but you really didn’t do anything.

Can faith save you without works? No, not for the Christian life. You see, you don’t get rewards in heaven, but you don’t get blessings down here unless you do what God tells you to do. And so you cannot just say what’s your Christian life. I’m just gonna turn everything over to God. No, because God has turned a lot of things over to you and says, but you do this and you do this and you do this. That’s what causes the struggle.

That’s what causes the wrestling. That’s what causes the warfare. That’s where the fight is. And there’s a lot of Christians don’t want to fight. They don’t want to struggle. They don’t want to they don’t want to do what God tells them to do. They want to be disobedient. But God bless me. God bless me. It won’t work that way. Look at it in James in chapter four and verse seven. Chapter four and verse 7. The word says submit yourself that’s something that you do.

You see in Christian service is faith plus your works. Faith and what? Faith that what God tells you to flee you flee. Faith in what God tells you to fight you fight and what God tells you to follow you follow. Faith is doing what God tells you to do with your life. That’s living by faith. And therefore, if your faith is believing that God says to flee this, I flee. My works is what gives action to my faith. And if I don’t do the work, God says your faith is dead.

Your faith is in vain. And we’re not talking about getting to heaven because our faith is in Christ’s work for salvation. He did his job. We’re trusting that. God says your rewards in heaven and your blessings now is based upon your faith plus your works. So you’re to believe that what God said is true and because you believe it, you do it. And if you don’t do it, you don’t believe it. And he says your faith is in vain.

Now notice there also in verse 7, he says, resist the devil. You don’t tell God to resist the devil, you resist the devil. things you’re supposed to do. You’re not, well, just let God do it all. No, God don’t want to do it all. God will do for you what you can’t do, but you’re going to do what you have to do and supposed to do. In other words, God, you might say, Lord, I want you to meet my needs, but you’ll let you rascal, you stay home and you won’t go to work.

But I’m living by faith. You ain’t living by faith. You’re a fool. You want God to meet your needs? God said, I’ll meet your needs. Get off your can and go to work and you’ll be surprised how much your needs will be met. It works God’s way. And God said, if a man don’t work, he ought not what? He ought not eat. Now I’m talking about those who can. We have a lot of people who can and don’t. Look at another verse.

Look there in verse eight. He says, draw a nine. That’s something you do. Cleanse your hands. He centers cleanse your hands. That’s something you do. You cleanse your hands. Purify your heart. That’s something that you do. And look down what he says in verse 11 Speak not evil one of another. That’s something that you do. Yes, you’re going to have those battles in your life Where somebody does you wrong and you want to speak evil back against them? Well, I’m just gonna turn it over the Lord.

What do you do? You gonna blast them out? You didn’t turn it over the Lord God’s worth speak no evil Because of my faith that God says don’t do that then I’m gonna put it into practice and not do that That’s what that means. That’s how you live by faith Living by faith is walking in obedience to the word of God not sitting around trying to talk spiritual slang And Lord go and thinking I’m spiritually because I said the right I just cast it all on the Lord You cast on the Lord what God says you to cast on the Lord and that’s the thing that God said he’ll do his promises and don’t try to do God’s job and you do what you’re supposed to do that’s your job and you’ll be surprised how it’ll work and it will work.

Take your Bible and turn into the book of Romans in chapter 8. The book of Romans and chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 and look there in verse 13. As a child of God you have a choice. You can obey the Lord or you can disobey the Lord but you still his child. Once you’ve trusted him as your Savior, your God’s child forever. And once you’re his child, God says, you’ve got this choice of either obedience or disobedience. He says there at verse 13, for if ye live after the flesh, that means that’s your choice.

You can choose to live after the flesh or your old sinful nature. You can do that. But God said, he’s going to have to chase you. Maybe take you home before your time, bring a little chasing into your life and cause all kind of things that can happen to you. God is a God of variety. He might use a lot of different things. He says, but if you through the spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, that means that this body that you have by which you move and think and act and go through this body of yours, which is an instrument, can be an instrument of righteousness or an instrument of unrighteousness.

It’s your choice. The body in itself is not sinful. It’s how it’s used. And he says, do modify the deeds of the body. That’s your choice. It’s something that you do. Don’t say, God do it for me. No, God, don’t do it for you. God will allow temptation to come before you. Well, I’m just going to cast it all upon the Lord. Cast what on the Lord? And then then you go ahead and do the temptation. Well, I just, that’s me.

That’s just the way that I am. And now I just have to trust God. Now you’re not trusting God. You’re a rebellion to God. He says, free the temptation. You disobeyed God. You’re not living by faith. You’re not walking the way God says to walk. And God’s gonna have to chase in you. And many of God’s children are chasing. They don’t have the peace and joy and the happens that they ought to have because they’re living in rebellion. But they talk a spiritual fight.

But don’t do the battle. You can’t have it. There’s things that you are supposed to do as a child of God. Take your Bible and turn it to the book of Philippians in chapter 2. The book of Philippians and chapter 2. This is the verse that we read this morning. In the beginning of the service, in verse 12, this is on page 12, 20, 59, and an old scope of reference Bible. But those are in verse 12. Wherefore it might be love it, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now also much more in my absence.

Look what he says. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Work out your own salvation. working out something that God put in but you’re not working for it. You say salvation is something that God does for you when you trusted him as your Savior and he saves you from hell. Now he says what he has put in you work out. God may give you ten acres of ground and expects you to work the ground and produce something.

He has saved you and given you life to live like giving you ten acres of ground is like giving you time to live. Now he said I want some fruit on the ground. You may have briars and thorns on your ten acres and somebody else has planted it in fruit and God’s going to reward them and punish you because of your wickedness and your rebellion. You’re the one that decides whether or not am I going to put anything on that ten acres of ground or am I going to let it go to waste?

Do nothing with it. That’s what you’re doing with your life when you don’t sow the seeds of truth into your life. He makes a statement. Work out your own salvation is not talking about working for salvation. It’s talking about you are as you go through this life, God wants to save you from the things that happens to you in life. Not save you from them, but save you through them because you’re going to go through tribulation and trials and testing, temptations, all these things.

And God wants deliver you from all these things and you should depend upon the Lord to give you the strength and the grace obeying his word that he told you certain things to flee. He told you certain things to follow. He told you some things to fight. He says so when you do all of those things he says I will give you the strength and the grace all you got to do is flee the things I tell you to flee.

Fight the things I tell you to fight and follow the things I tell you to follow because of faith because I told you so. He said, and you’ll have victory, you’ll have escape, and you’ll win, and you’ll get rewarded, and you’ll get blessings, and you won’t have to be chastened. Now, all of life is a choice. You’re going to have one or the other. So he says, in fear and trembling, you should have a little fear and a little trembling that is you live every day you might miss the will of God.

God. Now you’re going to have tribulations. Some may come tomorrow. But when it comes, you should want that tribulation which is a testing upon your character and your faithfulness to the Lord. You want to pass through that testing with flying colors. You want to go through that thing and learn what God wants you to learn. And you want to stand the way God wants you to stand. And you ought to have fear in your life that you will not stand.

That Satan will be stronger than you and you’ll need to walk close to the Lord. That’s what he’s talking about. He says they’re in verse 13 for it is God which worketh where in you to willing to perform on his own good pleasure. God has a purpose in your life while he allows to happen to you what happens to you. And he says there’s things that you are supposed to do and if you’ll do what he says do God said I’ll do what I promise that I’ll do and you can win and if you don’t you won’t.

Now I want you to turn into Bible to 1 Timothy chapter 6, 1 Timothy and chapter 6, 1 Timothy chapter 6 and look there in verse 11. Remember there’s things that you have to do they’re not done for you. The Bible tells us we’re supposed to study the Word of God. Well I’m just gonna let God do it. No wait a minute. God doesn’t have to study the word does he? No but then you’re gonna have to see you sometimes people are giving God back their responsibilities.

No don’t give God back his your response but God told you to do certain things you do those. You see it’s faith plus works and if you don’t have the work you don’t have the faith your faith is dead in the Lord. Now we’re not talking about like I said, you’re not talking about how to get to heaven because that’s when you trusted Christ as your Savior. We’re talking about your service after you have been saved. So 1st Timothy chapter 6, look there in verse 11, but thou, oh man of God, what does it say?

Flee these things. So there’s things you are supposed to flee. Get away from. Not boldly go where no man is on before. There are things that God says don’t do this. Get away from it. Not see how close you can get to the edge of sin without getting contaminated. He says this, flee these things. Now what things are you talking about up above when he talks about money or the love of money is the root of all evil. And many people, that is their goal in life.

They love money. Haven’t you ever thought about how happy you would be if you had more money? That’s the biggest joke there is. Money doesn’t make you happy. When guy says, you know there’s one thing money can’t do. What’s that? Buy poverty. I don’t know about that. A lot of people are going to have money and still be poverty stricken. You don’t have to have money to make you happy. You can be happy when you don’t have anything if your joy is in the Lord.

Look what else she says. Flea these things. Look at the next word and follow after what? Righteousness. That’s something that you do. So there’s things in your life that God says to flee. You say, what are all of them? You study the Bible and you find them. There’s a lot of things God says to flee. So there’s things that you’re not supposed to do. Follow that’s something that you’re supposed to do. God says follow after righteousness. That means that you study the Bible and find everything that God says for you to do that’s right do that’s right and you do it.

You know how much? How much do you all follow Him? How many blessings do you want? How many rewards do you want? Hey, it’s open. You don’t have to govern yourself according to what somebody else is doing. You’re not in a rat race with some other Christian. This church is not competing with another church. What do we want? That’s what it depends upon. Then He says here, follow after righteousness, get this godliness, Faith, love, patience, meeting, those are things that you make decisions concerning.

You don’t cast everything on the Lord. The things you cast upon the Lord is the thing that God said that He will give me the strength and the grace to go through these tribulations, but I can’t cast that tribulation on God. God, I want that tribulation. But what am I going to cast on Him? I am leaning up on Him by doing what He says to do. He says to be patient, to love, to forgive. All these things do that.

leaning on the Lord. That’sropriening upon God. That’s casting my cares upon the Lord when you obey God and do what He says to do with your life. Do you really believe that one day you’ll stand at the judgment seat of Christ and God’s gonna reward you for what you’ve done? I really believe that. If you really believe that and you got faith that that is true, why shouldn’t your belief in that affect the way you live then? That should make you be faithful to serve a Lord.

That truth Faith in that, believing that should mean that I should watch what I do with my life because I know one day I’ll stand at that judgment to the Christ. Do you believe that Christ is coming back soon? That He could come back at any moment? Do you really believe that your faith in that truth should motivate you to be faithful now? You see, you don’t have to have somebody always trying to motivate you to serve a Lord, because your knowledge of truth motivates you and you’re motivated by that and not by some man or some preacher.

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

As you know, in January, the President of the United States has a state of the Union address. address, letting you know the condition of our country and the plans for the future. Jesus gave a state of the union address, but it was a state of the kingdom address, the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is that period of time when Jesus Christ comes to the earth and sets up his kingdom and will rule and reign for that thousand years.

And after that, a new heavens and a new earth. Just like we know that Christ is coming back again. And He’s coming back twice. The first time to take us out, so He’s coming for us. The next time He’ll come back to the earth with us. So when Christ comes the next time He’s coming for us and then He’ll come back with us to the earth, instead of the kingdom, from the earth. So there’s two phases of the second coming.

lot of similarities. And yet when we talk about the kingdom of heaven that period of time upon the earth, there will be people that will be upon the earth that came through the tribulation period and they will have wives and they will have children in the kingdom. And the Bible says that we will be here so there will be the saved and there will be the lost. And it will be a thousand years. But God says, let things alone and it will take care of everything at the end of time.

But He says, the kingdom of heaven is like this and then uses a parable. Seven times He says the kingdom of heaven is like this. And the reason is because officially Israel as a nation has rejected Jesus Christ as the came. And therefore, because he was rejected as the Messiah and rejected as a king, he spoke to them in parables, giving them some ideas of what they can expect during the kingdom, age. That it’s not going to be like it would have been and could have been.

But many of those same things that happens there are also happening in the last 2000 years since the cross until the Lord comes. And many of those same similarities we can also learn from it and apply them to the age in which we live. So as we look at some of these I believe it will help us as we look at the state of affairs in our world today and also what we can expect for the future. As you go through life, remember this, you are because you live in a sinful world, you live in a body that has a sinful nature, you are not going to always every moment, every day be totally 100% successful in your battles.

You’re going to fight temptations and some of them you’re going to lose. You’re going to fight anger and sometimes you’re going to lose. You’re going to fight bitterness but sometimes you’re going to lose. You’re going to fight jealousy and ending and sometimes you’re going to lose. So you’re going to fight a lot of battles and And sometimes you’re going to lose it. And so because you lose a few battles along the way, you might think I am a total failure.

Well, you can be a total failure, but I’m sure that you’d rather be a total success. But I don’t believe anybody’s a total success or a total failure because we live in a sinful world. And things hit us broadside and some things were not prepared for. We would like to say that we are people who are totally trusting the Lord. And yet there will be times when you’ll fail to trust the Lord and you’ll worry about things that you could have prayed about.

So yes, some success along the way and some failures along the way. But let me read something to you that a friend of mine wrote. says, it is impossible to succeed without failing. This may seem like a contradiction. But those who have experienced the greatest success have known the greatest failures. The man who never fails is the one who never attempts anything. And the more one attempts, the more he fails. But the more he fails, the more he’ll learn.

And the more he puts into practice what he’s learned, the more he will succeed. Good night. I’ve never learned anything from my successes. All I’ve learned is from my failures. Failure is opportunity for improvement. When you discover something will not work, try something else. If that doesn’t work, then try something else. Sooner or later, you’ll find a solution. I have read that Thomas Edison, when trying to invent the light bulb, tried 700 things that fail. Filey a friend said to him, Mr.

Edison, you have failed 700 times. Why don’t you quit? To which Edison replied, I have not failed 700 times. I have discovered 700 things that won’t work in a light bulb. He is responsible for more than 1,100 inventions which we enjoy today including the light bulb. Do you remember trying to learn to ride the bicycle, did you ride it perfectly the first time? Of course you did. Like everyone else, you fail. And if your experience was like mine, it didn’t feel good, but you wanted to learn to ride so you tried again and you probably fell again and again until finally you were able to balance yourself and ride for a long distance without falling.

You eventually got to where you could ride without holding the hand of ours. Every experience was a learning experience and you never would have succeeded if you hadn’t failed. So don’t let failure discourage you. It is the stuff of which success is made up. That was taken from a book written by Dr. Curtis Hudson. So everybody will have some successes along the way and everybody will have a few failures along the way. Here in the book of Matthew chapter 13, I want you to look at the first thing.

the seed of the soil and knowing that as we go through life we are going to sow seeds. Did you know every deed that you do is a seed? Every word that you say is a seed. Every thought that you have is a seed, this planet. Either in somebody else’s mind and some experience that you have and everything you see, say and do is a seed that is planted by which somebody else may imitate and do the same thing that you did.

You planted a seed. Have you ever talked to somebody and planted a seed in their mind and they do it? You’re glad. And have you ever planted a seed in somebody’s mind and it was the wrong seed? And they become mad and angry at somebody because of what you said, your gossip about somebody. They’re all seeds. Think that you plant. So there are seeds of the soil. Of course, the scripture here in this parable of the sower is talking about sowing the seed of the word of God.

Look at verse 3, and he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow, and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the foul came and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony places, and they had not much earth. And forth what they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth. When the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up and choked them, but others fell into good ground and brought forth spruce.

Some hundred poles, some sixty poles, some thirty poles. And he says, who has ears to hear? Let him hear. Spoken parable, because those who wanted to hear could understand the parable. And those who didn’t want to hear could not understand this parable, because they had mixed doesn’t multitude and and yes yet the Holy Spirit did not entwelle them. And so he spoke in a way in which he could explain truth to those who wanted to know truth and those who didn’t really want to know the truth could not understand what he was talking about.

Tremense way to teach. Now he goes to and explains this but the seed of the soil there will be opposition. Some, birds came and got it. Some, Stony ground. Some, the briars. Some, the son. As you look back over your life, you’ll know that as you have lived your life, there has been opposition. So what is one main thing that you can expect coming this year? You are going to have opposition, things that goes against you. It’s not going to be a free ride or an easy ride.

says is easy if you totally trust Him. But you’re going to have a lot of things that kind of make it hard for you, a hard path, because you’re going to waver in your mind. You’re not going to totally trust the Lord. You don’t have questions to doubts about a lot of things. But understanding that because of the Lord, He is able to sustain you and get you through. But you’re going to have opposition. That’s just the facts of life.

And as He gives this parable, He says, the kingdom of heaven is like this. They also will have opposition. You and I in this period of time in which we live, we are going to have and going to face some opposition. Look in verse 24. Verse 24 says, Another parable putty forts and venoms in, the kingdom of heaven is lagging unto a man which so good seed in his field. And while men slept, his enemy came and so pears among the weak and went his way.

When the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tears also. So the servant of the householder came and said unto him, sir, this not thou so good seed and thy few. From Winston hath it tears. He said unto them, and enemy hath done this. The servant said unto him, will thou then that we go and gather them up? And he said, nay, lest, while you gather up the tears, you root up also the wheat with them.

Let them both grow together until the harvest. All right. How would you apply that to today? Here you are, you’re an individual. You trust in Christ as your Savior. You’re like a piece of ground. You’re the good weak that’s to bring forth good fruit. And Lord behold, as you decide, I’m gonna serve a little of all my heart. You dedicate your life to the Lord. You read His word, you pray, and you give, and you do all the thing that God says to do.

And Lord behold, somehow, and you don’t know where it comes from, you find out there. There’s somebody else that then grew up alongside of you, and it’s called an old sinful nature. Anybody in here got one? And despite of all the good that you want to do, not God says, just let them both grow together until the end. And so here you and I are, we’ve got the new nature so in the week. And we got an old nature, so are the taters.

And as we go through life, we’ve got both of these things. And so you might as well know that you’re gonna have to face it and live with it for the rest of your life. Wouldn’t it be great if you could just do away with your sinful nature? Go to the doctor, said, doctor cut out my scent from age. I don’t want it anymore. But it won’t happen. He says, no, let him let him let him alone. Right now, say as long as you live in his body, you can’t have one without the other.

So you got both of them living in this six foot of dirt for the rest of your life. But the day will come when that law will be over, but not yet. So I can guarantee you that as you live your life, you’re not only going to have opposition from other people, things that are going to go wrong, all those things, yes, that’s part of your life, but you’re also going to have a problem with you’re going to have times where you’re going to have a difficult time discerning between the spirit and the flesh and you’ll have thoughts in your mind and you won’t have clear thinking about which one is this.

Is this from the noober or the over? And And because you’re motive, you feel is right. You do what you think is right. And it may disagree with the word of God. So during this period of time, you have to keep studying the word of God so that you can keep your discernment sharp. As he says that you may rightly divide the word of truth. That means with clear understanding, knowing the difference between right and wrong and clear cut.

And that’s what you have to do concerning the decisions you make. And that helps you because, well, you’re discernment. And the discernment is according to your understanding. And your understanding is according to the knowledge. And your knowledge is according to the spiritual knowledge. If you only gain the wisdom of the world, you have not the wisdom of God to notice the difference. So you and I have oppositions in the world and we have the flesh trying to imitate. Did you know that you could have got up this morning and come to church and still be sitting here in the flesh?

You could have evil thoughts in your mind while I’m talking about good thoughts. Well, I’m reading the Bible and when we pray, you could have evil on your mind. There could be somebody you’re mad and bitter at, you just wish you could just choke them to death. You’re going to have a fight with your husband this morning and still have anger and bitter and you wish you could just do him in. Some evil thoughts, you’d be surprised. Hey, that’s that old flesh.

How long you got to put up with them from now on as long as you’re in this world, in this body. But isn’t it nice to know that there are little parables that God gave that sees deeper than you read the story, but how do you apply that story? What is in this thing for me? Look at the next statement. And this is in verse 31. Verse 31. And another parable, putty forth unto them, saying the kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of buster seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds.

But when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Now this story is told pretty much in the Old Testament to book a Daniel about, never condensored. And he says, thou art this tree. And God says, you’re gonna cut it down. He says, in the files of the air, we’ll come talking about people coming and lodging in it. You know, I believe America is one of the greatest nations in the world, but you know, America is the most idolatrous nation in the world.

Idolatrous nation. In America, we worship every God there is. The Buddhists can come, the Hindus can come, and the Christians can come, and the Muslims can come, and everybody can come to America and worship their heathen gods without persecution. You said, that’s a sign of our greatness. No, it’s not. Our nation was started off as a Christian nation. And then you couldn’t do anything if it violated the Christian principles regardless of your religious belief. But that’s slowly changing. In America, that started off as a literal tree has grown to be a great big nation.

And now the vultures of the world have come live in our branches. One day because of the pride in lifted up, it’s going to cut our nation down. God’s going to chop it down. God ain’t going to tolerate it. So yes, something starts off small can become big. Did you know that today people look at the bigness of something as whether it’s successful or not? But church has thousands of thousands of what they must be doing something right, not necessarily.

You got a crowd, but you ain’t got nobody growing in the things of the Lord and so greatness is not the best sign. If you want to be strong, it’s not going to be because of all the toys that you get. It’s going to be because did you or did you not learn the Word of God? You are going to be spiritually strong only by the Word of God. You’re not made spiritually strong by anything else. Only by the book.

Now in the next parable look there at number four, the 11 in the loath, verse 33, another parable spake he unto them, the kingdom of heaven is lacking in the leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leaven. You might know what leaven is, leaven is like yeast, you put it into the bread, what does it do to the bread? Caused it to rise and it pumps it full of holes, raises the dough, lot of preachers add a lot 11 to their message because it raises the note.

People come because they see something and it’s something that you are either strong because you’re spiritually strong or like I said you’re not strong. If you have to be totally entertained in order to keep you right with God, you’re not right with God. Your motive isn’t even right. You’re to be spiritually minded because you mind the Spirit. He makes a statement also in the book of Galatians in chapter 5. A little 11, 11 if the one, the whole other.

Or here you are. As an individual, and as we go on into the New Year, if you tolerate a little 11, and 11 in the Bible represents sin, it’s a type of sin. A little 11 in your life if left unchecked will do what to your whole life. It will permeate your whole life and sin tolerated let go with freedom will permeate everything in your life once in. You can’t tolerate sin and be spiritually strong for long. You can get away with it for a little while there is pleasuring sin for a season.

But the sin that nobody even knows about can permeate your thinking and the thinking will eventually affect the actions because your life, the way you live, your actions are a bipartisan the way that you think. And little sin in the mind tolerated permeates all of your thinking without you knowing it because it’s deception. And so you can keep yourself Close to the Lord so you can recognize that’s 11. And if I don’t watch that, it’s going to destroy my life.

Be strong. Do right. The next thing I want you to see is number five, the hidden treasure. In verse 44, again, the kingdom of heaven is likened to a treasure hidden in the field, Now, which one a man had found, he’d hide it and for joy, there abgoeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field? Now, I believe that this and its context is a reference to the nation of Israel. Israel is the treasure in the earth.

And because of their rebellion, God scattered the ten tribes or the twelve tribes eventually. they were everywhere. But because God wanted them in order to get them, he had to buy the whole world. He had to get all of us in order to get some of them. But God is the God of the Jews. Salvation is of the Jew. That’s what it says. But God was willing to pay a price to get all of them, sell off all that he had to buy the field, because the field is where the treasure was hid.

So he had to own the whole field in order to get that treasure. So the Bible says that Jesus Christ came into the world and made a payment for the sins of the whole, whole world in order to get a few of us. He paid for the sins of every man in order to get a few of the people to believe it. He didn’t just pay for the sins of just those who want to believe, like some people teach.

He paid for the sins of every individual. And you are, in the eyes of the Lord, is an individual, you are a treasure, a great treasure. And he was willing to die to pay for our sins so we could have eternal life. Now in the next parable, if you notice there, in verse 45, again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls. Who when he had found one pearl of great prize, went and sold all that he had embodied, believing that this could be a reference to the church.

This is the embodiment of all believers put together. And we are processed over time because a pearl is something comes from a grain of sand that gets into an oyster and in order to keep the irritation from irritating, coats it so that it’s not irritating anymore and keeps on until you’ve got yourself a nice pearl. I’ve ate a lot of oysters but I’ve never found a pearl. Never been my luck. What the Lord says, this is like a pearl of great price.

That we usually refer to this as a woman in the Old Testament, concerning a woman in Proverbs 31, a pearl of great price. And a man is wise if you can find such a woman. And the Bible tells us that here you have a pearl of great price. And I believe if it’s a reference to the church, not as a primary application, because this is all to the nation of Israel, but because of the rejection of the Messiah, of the King.

Many of these things are applied to the time in which you and I live, a lot of similarities. And the pearl of great price is the church. And as we go through life, there’s many things in this world. In order to insulate us, God, He puts a coating around us. It’s the Holy Spirit to protect us, the leaders and the guidance. The reason for children of God coming together as a body believer is for our protection. Because in the world, yes, there’s the friction.

And there’s the stuff that’s going to try to destroy you. But Christians working together and praying for one another can make everybody like a choice for them. And we’re to pray and to give and to help and so forth and do the things that we should and all of us will be better and stronger because of it. If you go any other way, it will not work. The last thing I wanted you to see in verse 47, again, the kingdom of heaven is locked onto a net which was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind.

I used to be scared to death of the internet. World wide web. But the Lord here is talking about here another kind of web. But at the end of time, it’s like a fisherman taking in and casting the net into the sea, pulling everything in, and then after you got everything in, then you separated. There’s a judgment of the nations where God is going to put in the nets, and He told His angels to go into all the world and to take their sickles and cut down everything, and bring them in, cut down the vines, and bring in all the grapes into the big valley of Jehoshaphat.

He’s going to stop him with his feet and the blood’s going to run as high as the horses. Brian of her beard of 200 miles, died in toward Jerusalem and all. So all these things are taught in the Bible throughout the scriptures. But here he talks about a web, a net that’s at the end of time, drawing them all in and then he’s going to separate them. Matthew 25 talks about the separation of the sheep from the goats. And we know that whenever the Lord comes and takes us out of this world, he’s separating his children from the world.

And when Christ comes back and sits up his kingdom on the earth, all those who have not trusted Lord will be cast into the lake of fire. And only though the leavers will go into the kingdom. There’s always separation. As you and I live our life, yes, we’re supposed to be separated from the things of the world. We’re not supposed to live like the world, think like the world, act like the world. We’re God’s children, we’re supposed to be different.

So all these things are taught in his word. But now get what he says here. When he drew it to shore and sat down and gathered the good into the vessels, but the bad he cast away. What makes it good? What makes it bad is whether you believe or you haven’t believed. You haven’t trusted Christ to save it. That’s explained in the Gospel of John very clearly. So he says here in verse 49, “…so shall it be at the end of the world, end of the age the angel shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, shall cast them into the furnace of fire.”

You know, Jesus is the one that says this, Do you actually believe that people who don’t know the Lord are going to be cast to a furnace of fire? What God says. But give what He says here. In verse 52, then said He unto them, therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure. Things new and things old. In other words, I believe it’s also a reference that while we live, we are learning new things, but we’re not to forget the old things.

I have covered these parallels before, but I always try to in every sermon give something old and something new, something old in order to refresh your mind and just a little bit, not a lot, a little of something new. Because that’s what you gotta have to learn a little bit more and a little bit more, he says, here a little, there a little, little, not a lot. Some people say, well, I wanna hear something I’ve never heard before. That isn’t the key.

The key is not forgetting the things that you think you already know. Having your mind remembered, stirring up the remembers, the Bible talks about over and over again. As he talked about there in the book of Psalms, God talking to His people, He says, lest you forget, lest you forget, you forgot God, you forgot, you forgot. You see, if you never learned another thing for the rest of your life, you still know enough to live a God they like for the rest of your life.

If you don’t forget, but the thing is that we have so many things going on in our lives that we, little by little, we forget things. So we’re to be reminded, and then a little bit more, and a little bit more, and they will help you and be a blessing to you. 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, 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.

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 out to the church in Tampa, Florida. 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. Let me try to paint a little picture. I believe that when the freedom was won from England, we had the people that had bonded together. And as everybody knows that they decided that in forming a union from the various colonies, they were very concerned about their freedoms. The last thing they wanted to do was to have a federal government that could take away their rights.

So some were not even willing to ratify the Constitution unless they had the Bill of Rights in there. They would guarantee them the freedom of religion and so on, the freedom to speak, the right to bear arms. So there were just ten things that they listed. were the change upon Congress about what they could not do. They’re not the change upon American people. It was to keep them in check. You can’t pass a law concerning this or this or this.

They really have no authority to establish a religion, a national religion, in the sense that we have to worship a particular way. They could not pass laws that infringe upon our right to have guns. And along with that would be, of course, the right to make guns, to have ammunition, because what good is a gun without it. But in our country now, they’re getting to where they do not even want you to have a gun. And there’s a reason why there is a move on to confiscate all weapons.

Here we are as America. So we agree that we’re going to abide by this Constitution. And so we will solve our differences by the ballot, not the bullet. So when we have disagreements, we don’t have to kill one another. We agree to govern ourselves by this Constitution. And when we have a disagreement, we can just the majority vote under the Constitution. But whatever the majority vote will be cannot violate this. It cannot take away the right of one person.

And so we agree to that. And so after a while, of course, there’s people that think it ought to be this way and somebody thinks it ought to be another way. So over here we have the Republicans, over here we got the Democrats, okay, for the sake of illustration. I don’t mean to insult anybody here, but I want you to follow me as close as you can. Now the Republican form of government is supposed to be that we believe in protecting the rights of every individual under this Constitution.

And we’re supposed to be willing to fight and to die for other people’s rights without persecution and for each other. But as time goes on, every man wants to get his own person that they like in office because, and remember, when we elect them to office, they’re not our rulers. They are our servants. We in America don’t have a king. We don’t have a Caesar. We’re free men. We are the boss. They only work for us. We tell them what to do.

They don’t tell us what to do. We tell them. Somewhere along the line, they have forgotten how this works. Now, as we go down the line and we try to teach and to educate, we have some people who believe that we ought to have a very small federal government, limited government. and it already is limited by the 18 things listed in the Constitution. That’s all that they can do. If it’s not found there, they have no right to it.

And anything that’s not in there is reserved for the state and for the individual in the country. So therefore, federal government is not unlimited in what it can do. It has stringent guidelines. Now, the 18 things listed about what they can do is for the general welfare of the country. It is to provide, or I should say it says in the preamble, to promote general welfare, not provide general welfare. Now there is a lot of difference. There are people who believe that we’re better off having a strong government, big government, that’s big enough to take care of all of us from the cradle to the grave.

So let’s just pretend that over here we have Democrat and over here we have Republicans. And they’re supposed to believe in lower taxes, less government, greater freedom, you know, the believing in the free enterprise system. And so you have a set of belief. But today the Republicans are about 10 years away from the Democrats going in the same direction. The Constitution is way over there someplace. They’ve all forsaken the Constitution, all of Congress. If Congress did not want us to be in a war, we would be in a war.

They’re the one that did it. If they don’t want deficit spending, we wouldn’t have it. We have what we have because they want us to have it. We’re in a mess because that’s what they want us to have, a mess. There is a plan to all of this. Now, sometimes the will of the majority is hampered by the Constitution, because it says you can’t and they want to. So you can ignore the Constitution and hope that y’all don’t say anything and hold our feet to the fire because they want a government that can give more.

And of course, it can’t give more unless it takes more. Now, when you are leaving your foundational principles, then you are left to do whatever you desire in your own mind. This is one of the reasons. Now, if I make somebody mad, it’s okay. I don’t care, I can live with it. I got broad shoulders, I can handle it. When you have 20 to 30 million illegal aliens in this country, if you want power, you get that power from the people by the vote.

So then since the, say, the Democratic Party over here want so bad for these votes because they can retain power. If they were to give them amnesty, they would also be able to vote. And I would venture to say, if you have any thinking power whatsoever, you know how they’re going to vote. For whoever can give them the most. So there is a portion of society that believes in getting from the government. In the economic crisis that we’ve been going through for several years now.

The only thing that’s been growing is government. Government is growing by leaps and bounds and they’re printing money like it’s going out of style and they’re willing to give that money to pursue their cause. In doing this we have been going to the polls and we are trying to vote for the best man or woman that will represent us. Yes I have problem with those 500 and something people up there in Washington, but they’re only the consequences or the results of the ignorance of the people.

We are putting people in place that are like us. If we are thieves, we’ll put thieves up there. If we were men of character, we would want men of character, but that doesn’t seem to matter anymore. Over the years, they got control of our schools. In getting control of our schools, you put your kids in those schools, but they get to teach your kids. I’m not lying, I’m telling you the truth. I get it off. And they are teaching our kids every public school in America is a little seedbed for turning out little Democrats.

And that’s why eventually we have to lose by the ballot. We will simply be outnumbered. This is why we’re going in the direction that we’re going. Now, you can’t totally be conquered in thatPitt sense. As long as you have the ability to resist. And at this point we have the ability to resist. The power to say no. But I believe very strongly the day is coming when we won’t be able to say no. There is a line that we will cross and it will be the line of no return.

You can’t go back. We are allowing little by little the majority of the people to vote away our freedoms. We made an agreement. You over here? We made an agreement. All of us agreed. We will settle all of our differences by the ballot and not the bullet, and we will put in place of leadership those that represent us. But they all agree to abide by this document. What happens when they no longer agree in what this document says? That’s why we keep our guns.

And if we are not willing to one day, if need be, use those weapons to preserve this country, you’re not much of a patriot. We’ll have to say to those that died for this country and for that flag and for our freedoms, we’re ashamed of what they did. Now if it’s wrong for us, it was wrong for them. And they fought and died to give us the freedom that we just so easily will hand over without firing a shot.

listen to me. I don’t want nobody running off hatcock, but we need to understand that there’s coming a time in this country where we know that we are going to be outnumbered. There’s going to be more of them than there is a bus. We wouldn’t have to worry about it if everybody played by the same rules. But how would you like to play a football game where the opposing team has the right to change the rules as they play the game.

But you’re still playing by the rules, but they’re no longer playing by the rules. You can never win. They can’t lose. That’s why America lost in Vietnam because they have some hierarchy making stupid laws and rules. If they’re going to fight, fight to win. If we wanted to win a war in Afghanistan, we can. You trying to tell me that America can’t take up whatever they’re doing over there? That’ll fiddle. I’d love to be president just for a little while.

I don’t think it would take too long to do what I wanted to get done. I’m not running for all the food in there. But the day is coming here in America and I believe this. If we do not take this country back this coming election and we don’t get it back by the ballot, we’re going to be forced to use the bullet. That’s my prediction to down the road. And I don’t like that. I have no desire for anything.

I’m a peaceful man. All I want’s peace, but I’m not for peace at any cost. I can see what is slowly being done. And see, now that they’re slowly starting to outnumber, see that wasn’t an issue before, the guns was not an issue. But they know they can’t totally conquer a people that’s got guns. And remember, this is not just between the Democrat and the Republican, this is between truth and error, between right and wrong, between freedom and slavery, because people can see what Hitler was doing in Germany.

We are headed toward the very same type of government when they’re slowly little by little dismantling our freedoms, our Constitution. Look what we pay today in taxes. And they founded this country because they taxed their tea. Something’s wrong. But we have raised up generations of people without an education. They don’t know where we came from, so they don’t know where we’re going. They don’t see the battle. To me in my mind, it’s clear as a bet of what’s right and what’s wrong.

I can see the humanistic educators that have infiltrated all of the institutions of learning in this country and have twisted the minds of our young people. They wouldn’t dare want to fight for this country, but I believe there’s still in the heart of a lot of patriots in this country that don’t want to lose it yet. And they can see what’s coming down the road. Somewhere along the line, there needs to raise up a magistrate, somebody that represents the people in some state somewhere that they’re going to have to be a rallying point.

And you say, that’s enough. I believe, myself, I believe. The whole administration up there, and everybody in Washington, and everybody in America ought to know you’re not taking this country without a fight. Because if we don’t do it, we’re going to lose, and we’re going to be slaves, just like in Germany. We’re headed for a dictatorship in this country. And I’m not ready for that yet. I only got maybe a few good years left. But I’m not about to be silent.

I will say whatever I believe is the right thing to say, I die so be it, let me die, but I am not going to shut my mouth. I’m going to say what I believe needs to be said. So when will the day come? You realize how it like now. You don’t even own your own home. You owe property taxes, probably 80% of it, that go to the public schools that teaches kids not to believe what you believe. It’s not about teaching kids to read and to write.

It’s teaching them about philosophy. The government owes you. You have a right, and we’re not teaching kids responsibility. Adults don’t want responsibility. But sooner or later, there’s gonna be a price to pay. or our lack of physical attitudes. They’ve already got it to where you can’t hardly buy ammunition for a lot of guns. They’re cutting that off. Up here in Chicago, banning it in the whole city. You can’t take your gun on your porch. You can’t carry your gun out in your yard.

And if you have one in the house, it’s got to be locked. Somebody breaking in your house. Wait just a minute, got to get the key. Wait honey, you weren’t worth that key. Now if Congress shall make no law respecting the free exercise of religion and you cannot make a law restricting our right to bear arms, then why are they making a law? Where did they get the power because the states have to agree to the federal Constitution? They don’t have the right, but they’re going to do it anyway.

And now they’re telling but you can’t do that, you can’t, you can’t, you can’t, you can’t. Well, that’s, that’s not freedom. I say a man takes a man’s life, take his life. Swift justice. I wouldn’t even be opposed to taking them outside in public hanging them. The Lord had them stung them public. Today is everything’s behind saying nobody knows what goes on. They don’t see the consequences of their sin. I think you You ought to see the consequences of it.

I believe that all our politicians ought to know. Go ahead. You pass any law you want, but we’re not going to obey it. It causes an unjust law, it’s an unconstitutional law. And we can challenge the constitutionality of every piece of legislation they ever pass. You see, they never took away our right to pray in schools. We surrendered. They didn’t kick the Bible out of the school. We surrendered. We still had the right to do it. We gave it because they said we had to.

We said with a supreme law of the land, the supreme law of the land is you and me, not supreme court. And we’re supposed to fight for crisis, stand faster for in the liberty where you have and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. And I believe that can apply to you spiritually as an individual, as a husband and a wife, and in a country, stand fast therefore in the liberty. And it says, when the enemy comes in like a flood, raise up a standard against it, resist the devil, resist the evil, stand against it.

We have people in there so pacifist, well you know Jesus wouldn’t do that. You don’t know the book. I have read the Bible, believe it or not. I’ve read it from beginning to end. And I believe that God established governments. And God permitted war. And God brought nations against nations. And I believe that God can raise us up. Remember in the book of Revelation in chapter 2, verse 5 he says, from whence thou art fallen. Do you understand and know from whence thou hast risen?

Could we rise to such a great nation without the knowledge, the help, the providence of God himself? And can we fall from whence art thou fallen? And it says in chronicle that says, How are the mighty fallen? How are the mighty fallen? If we take our eyes off God, it’s kind of hard for us to say God bless America. I want America to bless God, to be a blessing to God so that God can bless America. But it’s almost getting to be hypocritical, asking God to bless this wicked country.

I’d love to see America bow to the Lord so that we can stand on our feet. But if we don’t bow to Him, we’re going to be bound to man. And we’re not going to have their freedom. Then he gave you this simple little illustration The guy out there in the swamp’s wanted to catch some pigs So they hired this guy to come in tell him how to catch pigs. He was a professional pig catcher So he says just give me some corn The game corn he went out there where from track for an ethos and corn down there Next day you go down there and you see where some hogs have been internet eating some of that corn He put some more corn down there and he left Came back next day corn was gone Next day he went down there and gave him corn and he waited

the halls coming out. They saw the corn that they saw him, but he backed up the lawn and they come up here and got the corn anyway. Well he stood there. He got that corn. After a while he gave him some more corn. They come up there while he’s standing. So one day he goes down there and he had a pole and a post-hoe digger. He just began to dig a hole. They were eating the corn. So he dug a a bunch of holes and made a whole circle right in the field.

Went down there and they’d hop some corn and they’re just eating that corn. Put a post in there and packed it. When I went down there and had some fence. Hogs in there eating that corn and he just put that fence up. That’s what they’re doing to us. And one day they’re going to close the gate. And you’re not going to go, how did this happen? Don’t you dare say how this happened because this preacher told you it was going to happen.

And there’s a lot of people across this country that are sick and tired of what’s going on. And you know, and I know somewhere along the line, either we have to win by the ballot, are we going to wind up with the bullet sooner or later? You said that doesn’t sound very Christian-like. Well, I’m sorry. But that’s the way it is. And that’s the truth. of people can see that we are going downhill. And there’s those who are deliberately taking this downhill and destroying this country.

They’re not trying to rebuild. They’re trying to destroy it so that the people have lost their will and you watch. You can’t declare martial law until we have civil unrest in this country and people are going to be fighting one another. And a good place to start would probably be down here, maybe by the Mexican border and people will take things into their own hands and we have a few little vigilante style people to say and I’ve had enough and boom boom all over the country you watch and see you remember I told you and then you got to declare martial law and that’s to spend all of your constitutional rights that’s a complete takeover of everything in the country they’re already predicting that there’s are gonna be a mass swarm of locus that’s gonna come eat up a lot of food.

Do you realize that all of our food is not produced by the little farm but by just a few big conglomerates and it wouldn’t take much for this country to be starving and we’ll do whatever it takes to live? Anyway that’s another sermon I got coming to down the road. I wish to have I’ve never gotten to lost my notes. Anyway, it’s later than usual, but let me just explain in case somebody’s watching by the internet. I sometimes forget about that thing.

Let me explain two verses to you. You know them. You don’t even have to turn there. You know the verses. Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. Two of my favorite verses in the whole Bible. I believe the key is still to try to get America saved. Myself personally, see, I can’t. I can’t waste my time trying to straighten out the world. I just want to teach this and hopefully the challenge and motivate somebody to be the leaders in this country that they ought to be.

I never know how far and wide what I say is how far it’s going to go and who’s going to be listening? Never know. I do know according to our website. There’s an awful lot of military ears on our site. I got a little thing that slows that. If you get a chance till you show the man. Or by grace are you saved through faith in that, not of yourselves. It’s the gift of God and not of works lest any man should boast.

Have you ever heard that before? Isn’t it good news? By grace are you saved. Grace, that’s unmerited favor. Something that God does for us because of his life. love for us. You see, if it was by our works, it wouldn’t be by grace. But if it was by works, then I could brag about how good I am. I’m not good. I’m a bad man. But God loved bad men, bad women too. And He died on the cross to pay for the sins of the world.

And all we have to do is believe He did it for us. And God said He would give us as a free gift everlasting life. Let me just show you something. This Bible is Christ. This is you and me. The Lord says, and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ. The righteousness which is of God by faith. So when God comes looking for me, I’m hid.

Where did I hide? I hid in Christ. And so whenever God looks for me, He sees His Son. I go to heaven because I am in Him. I am in His Son. So when you trust Christ as your Savior, the Bible says, the Holy Spirit places you into Christ. and God sees you in the sun. Let’s pray, shall we? With heads bowed nice, closed, no one looking around. If you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, I pray that you will.

There’s no tricks to it, no gimmicks to it. Right where you are. Didn’t know God loves you so much. Dye don’t that cross and paid for your sins. Said if you’ll believe he died for you and paid for your sins that he would give He gives a free gift of our lasting life. He said, he’d never cast you, I’d never lose you. He loves you that much. We’re living in some very difficult times. We may never solve any of the problems in this country, but friend, if you never trusted Christ, your problem is greater than anything else you can mention.

But you can solve that one. Would you trust him if you will? God said he would save you and give you eternal life as a gift. You can know that you’re going to heaven whenever you die. Our Father we thank is so much for loving us, allowing us to live in such a great country. We’re so thankful for all the veterans, the military, the seeks to keep us free from harm. But I pray, Lord, each one here would know and understand and appreciate what you’ve given us, and that it is our responsibility to stand fast in the liberty we’re with Christ has made us free.

We thank you for this time together. We ask your blessing on each one. 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, 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 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.

I believe very strongly that we here in America are losing our freedom. We are slowly devolving into a state of slavery. Economically, we’re becoming slaves. The book of Galatians in chapter five, it says, stand faster for in the liberty where with Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Maintain your freedom. Do not become entangled with the yoke of bondage. But here he’s not talking about maybe civil government. Now what is he talking about?

Is it church rule? I believe in its primary application we’re talking here about the individual. An individual person being able to maintain freedom from himself. If you look there in verse 19 it talks about the works of the flesh. Now we have civil law that is supposed to curtella the works of the flesh. In other words, make laws that punish works of the flesh that harm other people that do them wrong. And it mentions things that you are not supposed to do.

He talks about the fruit of the Spirit says there’s no law against them. There’s no law against loving one another, being kind to one another, forgiving to one another. There’s no law against that. But there is a law against bringing forth the works of the flesh. And as the Bible says here in verse 19, now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these adultery. That’s wrong. Murders drunkenness reveling such life. All these are things by which we should have laws preventing because these sins are crimes against society.

And so it is right for society to have laws that condemn a crime on society. These crimes are what the Bible calls sins. But we have people today that don’t believe in sins and there is no absolutes, no right and wrong. So therefore, how can you legislate the way people live. How is a man supposed to if he’s been made free by Christ because he believed the truth? How is he to curb the lust of the flesh? The Bible does not say you curb the lust of the flesh by the civil law.

It will punish those who break the law and will not constrain themselves, but there’s There’s got to be something on the inside of a man that keeps the man from bringing forth the works of the flesh. There’s only one thing that the Bible tells us will work, and that is in verse 16. This I say, then walk into spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. If the way to cure the problem of crying in society is to cure the sin in society, and That is by having a power over the sin in the person.

You understand my reasoning, my thinking. We have given to us by God a systematic way of dealing with the lust of the flesh. If this is true in a society to curb the crime, you have to curb the sin produced by the the individual, and there’s only one thing that will work for the individual, and that is salvation. Knowing Christ is Savior, and then by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, convict a man of sin, righteousness, and judgment. So the key is that we must educate every person born in our society, teaching them the truth about where they came from, what they’re doing, where they’re going, the sinful nature, how to have eternal life, and why they should serve the Lord.

So that becomes the main goal and purpose of education. Teaching the children about God, so that they know Christ as Savior. God has given to us that which will work. A couple of things that I wanted to share with you. A man by the name of Samuel Chase appointed to the Supreme Court by George Washington. He says he was appointed to the Supreme Court by George Washington. He also was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, 1799, just as Chase in the case, Rungo versus Winsmiller, wrote, by our form of government, the Christian religion is the established religion, and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed on the same equal footing and are equally entitled to protect protection in their religious liberty.

By our form of government, the Christian religion is the established religion. Dr. Epperson-Mine, Constitution State, Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof. So we have that in our Constitution. What Congress cannot do. Understand, the Christian religion founded a government, but the government cannot found a religion. Just understand the difference. The Christian people are forefathers, the founding fathers, the Christians founded a government on Christian principles and then stated that the government has no power to found a religion so you can’t have a national religion by government.

You understand the difference? There’s politicians that don’t understand this. Do I understand it? Our founding father also knew that freedom could only exist if men chose to restrain themselves from within. This is their own work. This is what I’m talking about in the book of Galatians. All the walls in the world will not make a man godly. But it can make him think twice before he does the works of the flesh if there’s a penalty for the crime. But see what we’ve done today is we’re saying that the sins are not crimes against society.

And they are. and therefore they’re against the law. That’s why we cannot say, well, you have the right to have this club in the school. Homosexuality, sodomy, you can’t have that in our public school, why? Because it’s not right. It’s a crime on society. It is a sin. It is a work of the flesh. It is not to be. John Adams was the second president of the United States. In an address to the military delivered on October 11, 1798, This is what he said.

We have no government armed with power capable of content and with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. He’s an ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest core of our Constitution as a whale goes to a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. James Madison, known as the chief architect of our Constitution became the first President of the United States before studying law he prepared for the ministry and this is what he said.

We have state the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government far from it. We have state the future of all political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government. In other words, our government will stand. Our Constitution will stand if the people can govern themselves. This is why all these institutions that were started was for the purpose of educating people in the Christian morality, the principles of Christianity, because it was the only hope that we can have in defending our freedoms.

Because if you don’t stand fast in freedom, you won’t have freedom, and then you have the works of the flesh, and the works of the flesh, you have to create more laws and more laws and more laws. And this is where all the bureaucracy comes from. a whole new way of life. This was in today’s paper, but it’s where we’re headed. This is written by the executive editor of the Athens banner, Harold Jason Winders. He says, honestly, you have got the handed to Senator Ralph Hudgens.

Ralph Hudgens has been in our church. He’s a good man. He’s a godly man. He’s a good representative. He said, I mean this Comer Republican doesn’t, certainly doesn’t need a poker face when he starts playing the gay card. From my perspective, he told this newspaper last week, homosexuality is a perversion. That’s what Ralph Hudgens said. Well, if he asked me, I’d say the same thing. And this man gets taken the task in the local paper. He says also, now, Hudgens remark, and recent hissy was sparked when 60 or so students at Madison County High School formed a gay straight alliance last month.

And the good senator feels these kids simply don’t understand what they are doing. Hit the way hissy. Is this mocking a good man? Because of what he believed? Is this guy saying anybody who believes like this, is somebody that’s off the wall and they mock, this is mockery. This is mockery to every church, every preacher that believes the truth, that believes the Bible, that believes homosexuality is wrong. He says to stop that, he plans to get his sights, set his sights on introducing his parental notification bill in the sentence, next session.

If past this bill will require all students to seek and receive a parents permission to join any club, school club, and or activity. Are you telling me you don’t think you ought to know what clubs your kids belong to or get permission from the parents? I don’t see anything wrong with that. So he’s knocking and really killing. Then he makes the statement. He says, cheers to the Board of Education for refusing to shut down the club, branding that move discriminatory.

They showed more spine. They showed spine. Boy, they stood up to those Christians. A hundred of them shows up and they stood up to them. Think something’s wrong with this picture. He says, Hudgens told this newspaper what everyone already understands. He hopes the bill discourages membership and gay straight clubs by alerting parents to their children’s participation. It’s a bigoted move, period. Bigoted. He’s doing hissy. He’s bigoted. And in any, he has a statement here, shame on hudges. Why he wants to stop some sodomites from teaching others how to be a sodomite and gets ridiculed for it.

The Bible says, stand for that which is right. Justice Brewer said this in 1892, our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embodied the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise. in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institution are emphatically Christians. Benjamin Franklin, I read this to you but only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters Benjamin Franklin.

Now these are our founding fathers, this is what they said in the beginning of the kind. Then if this all of this was unconstitutional, but wait a minute, what about the one that made the Constitution, thought for our right to have it, and this is what they said. They said this is a Christian nation because they understood that you cannot have a strong republic any other way. Groove Cleveland made this statement. He said, I will not be a party to stealing money from one group of citizens to give to another group of citizens, no matter what the need or apparent justification.

Once the coffers of the federal government are open to the public, there will be no shutting them again. It is the responsibility of the citizens to support their government. It is not the responsibility of the government to support its citizens. Do you understand what I just said? Is this where we have people standing today? People today are educated in the philosophy that government owes you a living. It’s government responsibility to take care of you. Listen to them hollering in the gosh.

It’s government’s responsibility to provide protection, security, not provision. Coral Marks, a communist, the father of communism, a democracy is not a form of government democracy can’t survive. For it will succeed until its citizens discover they can vote themselves money from the Treasury and then they’ll keep on until they bankrupt. You see anything going on like that around. This is what’s happening in our country. America is on the verge of bankruptcy. Not just the bank, not just the farmer up there, not just people who have to file for bankruptcy.

Our Social Security is on the verge of bankruptcy and Medicare and government, military, we’re on the verge of total collapse, this country. Because the people that found out they can vote themselves money out of the treasury. And the politicians will keep giving it as long as they keep voting for them. They’re buying votes. And yet there used to be a philosophy among the gentlemen in Congress. You don’t take one dime of this money and give it to anybody. There’s 18 things that are a lot of two in the Constitution.

That’s all you have the right to do. And some understood that. Today the federal government routinely confiscates money from one group of citizens and transfers the money to another. Let me read something to you. This will knock your socks off. I just felt like knocking some socks off this morning. John O’Donnell and Jim Hainer recently authored a detailed account of how far some people go this nation to get their share of taxpayers expense. I believe you joined the military and you’re in the service.

I believe you have right because you gave something or willing to give your life. Therefore, that is a close issue. There’s other things that the government is doing that people have no right to. He makes a statement. He says, the focus of the article appeared on our family in Lake Providence, Louisiana, how they tapped into it a little known welfare program run by the Social Security Administration called the Supplemental Security Income, SSI. You ever heard of that? SSI. Oh, I’ve heard it.

It was originally established by Congress in 1974 for the purpose of providing life’s necessities for poor adults who were too old, ill, or handicapped to work. 1995, 6.3 million recipients included drug addicts, the mentally ill and the excessively obese. Do you believe that if a person just sits down and keeps eating and eating and eating and eating and eating and eating now he can’t work? Now he’s qualified, he’s a disabled. And the government has to take care of it.

What about that scripture says if a man don’t working on the what? Over 900,000 children who receive over $25 billion and the 25 billion. Where did they get all this money? President Grover Cleveland, upon vetoing a bill appropriating money to aid drought-stricken farmers in Texas, said, I find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and the duty of the general government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit.

In other words, it’s not the government’s job to bail people out. It’s not the government’s job for student loans, housing. Jimmy Carter wants to do it, let him be on all the houses he wants, but don’t you use one government dying for it. That’s not the purpose of government. The purpose of government, the general welfare, and then it lists the 18 thing by which you’re to pay taxes for. Do you realize your taxes would only be a pittance to take care of our federal government?

All the rest of the things they’ve done are unconstitutional. They’re not in there. That’s why you have to donate. Voluntarily, donate most of your income, that the 50% of them to pay for the thing that are not in the Constitution. And we saw about standing for freedom in 1854 after vetoing a popular appropriation to assist the mentally ill President Franklin Pierce said, I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for public charity. To approve such spending, argued Pierce, would be contrary to the letter and the spirit of the Constitution and subversive to the whole theory upon which the union of these states is founded.

I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for public charity. See, there ought not be one law that makes you pay for anybody else. Bad luck. But there ought not be one law that prohibits you from helping anybody you want to help. And I think it’s great when the people of America are out of compassion and they’re in a charitable way and help, that’s great. Government, you just protect our right to do that. But you cannot force through taxation as thievery.

And this is why it takes two parents to work today because they’re having the work for those people who want work. Does it bother me? Yes, it bothers me. In 1796, Representative William Gals of Virginia condemned a relief measure for fire victims, saying that Congress didn’t have a right to attend to what generosity and humanity require, but to what the Constitution and their duty require. A couple of years earlier, James Madison, the father of our Constitution was irate. Over a $15,000 congressional appropriation to assist some French refugees said, I cannot undertake to lay my finger upon the article in the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.

And he’s the founder of it. He says, I can’t lay my finger upon that article and says you’ve got the right to do that. Now, if they don’t have a right to do that, why are we participating in it? There ought to be a rebellion among God’s people and the people of this country saying, enough is enough. But they won’t. They just keep on until it’s too late. But I wish that everybody could hear what I’m saying and understand what I’m saying.

Some people might say, aha, they forgot about the Constitution’s general welfare clause. Here’s what James Madison said about that general welfare. This is where those two words are the words that they use in order to justify all the giveaway programs and all the giveaway programs by the federal government is to buy boats. Don’t give up to people because all that money people could have done it without government and do a better job. costless.” He said, with respect to the two words, general welfare, I have always regarded them as qualified by the details of powers connected with them.

To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a keratrum where there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators. That’s not what they said and that’s not what they meant and they are not. They don’t have any constitutional right to do the things that they’re doing. They’re stealing and American people are voting in a bunch of thieves that don’t understand and we’re a little by little we’re losing our country.

We’re losing our freedoms because we’re losing our kids. We’ve lost the right to educate. And now when you have somebody like a man like Ralph Hudgens that will stand up and say that’s wrong. And then the The papers take them to task and ridicule and mock them. But that’s also not just to him. That’s every person that believes that what Ralph Hudgin said was right. Look what they’ve said about them. This is what he said about you. This is what he said about me and every preacher throughout this state that believes it.

That’s wrong. It doesn’t belong in a public school. It’s a crime. sexual act is a sin against each other and it’s a sin against society because if we don’t judge it God will judge us. So let me say it doesn’t bother you. It does bother me. Not to bother everybody. Anyway these are my humble opinions. Now look in verse 22 in your Bible and he said but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, maintenance, temperance against such there is no law.

There’s no law against walking in the spirit. There are laws and should be laws against walking in the flesh. When it mentions the words to the flesh, did it mention drunkenness? Yes. I’ll be a law against that. What about fornication? I’ll be a law against that. Daltry, there’ll be a law against that. And then he makes a statement there in chapter 6 and verse 7, be not deceived. God is not mocked. What’s our man sought? That shall he also reap.

We reap what we sow. And in America we’re gonna reap what we sow. Remember I said this, save man, lost man, both go outside. It rains, which one gets wet? It rains upon the just and the unjust. And as a nation, it’s not that God is concerned only about His children, Obeying Him. God destroyed Sodom Yomara. Not because they were Christians disobeying, but because they were people that still have a responsibility to do right by God, just for physical survival.

And why did he bring in the flood? Because of the wickedness of the people. Why was he going to destroy Nineveh? Because of the wickedness of the people. And great tribulation coming because of the wickedness of the people. You see, it doesn’t matter what you’re saved or you’re lost. God expects lost people to obey His law. Saved or not? Or God will still destroy. God will still chase Him. A saved man, a lost man. Neither one can live as He pleases, He gets away with it.

That’d be like saying, well, if you’re lost, you can live like you can get away with, it doesn’t matter. when I read the book, saved, lost, both responsible. Only that when you died, this one goes to heaven, that one done. I’m still responsible to do right. The lost man, he’s still responsible to do right. Well, they like it or not. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not commit murder. That’s still a law, not just for the saved, for people upon the earth, physical life.

Otherwise God can take us home. Look up here. This is you and me and this is sin. We all have sin upon us. God loves us, hates our sin, and for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from God in a place called hell. God loves us, wants us to go to heaven. We committed the sin, we have to die. We are eternally separated from the Lord. To go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous is God and none of us are perfect, none of us are righteous.

We have all sin and come short of the perfection of God. We can’t go to heaven because God won’t let sin into heaven. Since we can’t get rid of sin, we can’t go. So this hand represents Jesus Christ, he’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into this world because he loved this. He hates our sin because it separates us from it. So Christ took the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead, instead of we’ll believe it did it for us.

He’d put that payment to our account and we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for us. Eternal life is a free gift. We’re the stand for this truth, not to tell her anything. It comes close to compromising it, mudding up the message. Once you know Christ is your savior, it is our responsibility living in this world to stand for that which we believe is a right thing. And yes, just like Ralph Hudgens to get mocked and ridiculed for it.

I don’t think he likes somebody writing that about him, but I admire him and I’m going to write him a letter telling them so for taking a stand. Let’s pray, shy. Every head bowed and every eye closed, no one looking around. If you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, want to write now, just Lord, I know I’m a sinner. I believe Christ died, paid for my sin, then I’m going to trust Him to take me to heaven whenever I die.

I don’t see anybody new. Chances are, we’ll be here, have trusted Christ as Savior, but just in case you haven’t. Would you trust the Lord right now, if you will, I’d like to have prayer for you. Would you slip your hand very quickly and put it right back down in the end of the day before we close. You that no Christ is your Savior, stand for that which is right. Be not afraid to speak up and say the truth.

Our Father, we ask Your blessings upon our church, our families, our children, our grandchildren, and Father, we pray that they’ll do right. And Father, we also pray for our nation that we could have great men that believe Your Word, take a strong stand and do what’s right. We’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 org.

Thanks for joining us on Bible Live and now a closing thought from Pastor Art. 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, 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 to- 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’ve heard of a guy named Daniel Webster, also no Webster. What is that? But there is anything in my thoughts or style to recommend. The credit is due to my parents for instilling in me an early love of the scriptures. If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper, but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory and profound obscurity.

We have allowed our children to be educated by humanist educators, for the most part. There’s some good teachers here and principals there. Now, but for the overall, most part, our children are being educated in a humanistic philosophy by the very fact that in majority of schools, we have the teaching of evolution. Evolution is a religion of the atheist. An atheist can’t believe in creation because that requires a creator. So the only other alternative is we got here by a lot of little accidents, the mutations.

You know, gases coming together, pfft, now. Next thing you know, you got some blob floating around in the ooze of the Nile. And so from a one cell to me, but we have developed into what we are today. And they don’t believe in a God. They’re humanistic. Everything revolves around man, and they have taken our children, and it doesn’t matter. You can take them to church on Sunday, and they will get maybe an hour of Bible teaching and five days of humanistic philosophy.

And you think that it’s not going to make a difference in our country, how they think, and how they feel, and what they want to accomplish with their life? No, Webster said this. the principle of all genuine liberty. And of wise laws and administrations are to be drawn from the Bible and sustained by its authority. The man, therefore who weakens or destroys the divine authority of that book, may be a cessary to all the public disorders which society is doomed to suffer and the people that have not the Bible and not Christianity and don’t want God or the Bible in our schools have nothing to do with it, rewrite history, change everything, is accessory to all the public disorders which society is doomed to suffer.

Because see it’s not in man that walk up to direct his steps. That’s why we need a Savior. That’s why we need the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to help us to do the things that God wants us to do in order to love like we ought to. And so because they don’t have the spirit of the Lord, they have to pass more laws and more laws means more freedom that you and I are going to lose. And so every time the Congress gets together, they are passing some law that takes away some of your rights and your freedoms.

I don’t like what I see coming in America. Let me read this to you because this is so good. Some of you know all this stuff, but there’s probably some of you that never get this. You say, what’s this got to do with the Bible? If you read this Bible, you’ll find out the Bible talks an awful lot about government. All the way through it’s about government, government, government, government. And the role that we’re supposed to play in government.

And how government affects our life. It was Paul who knew and understood the law that says I appeal on the Caesar. Why did he do that because he knew the law? He said I’m free-born. I’ve got rights That’s why he wound up in Rome You’ve heard of a guy named Paul Harvey He said this a Reverend Joe Wright Pastor of the Central Christian Church in Wichita before the Kansas state legislature. Now this guy had some gall. He had some intestinal fortitude, if we call it.

Anyway, he had to pray. And in his prayer, did he unload? And when he did, people got up and says that when he finished three members jumped to their feet and indignantly shouted. He can’t talk like that. Another one says that it was gross and divisive, sanctimonious, overbearing. Another guy named Daly in the Senate called it blasphemous, ignorant, and others in the chamber agreed, and were very upset because of what this pastor had to say. When Ode was almost twenty years ago, listen to what he said.

He prayed, Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your directions and guidance. Having a problem with that so far, they did. We know your word says woe to those who call evil good, but that’s exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values. We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your word in the name of moral pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.

We have endorsed perversion and called it alternative lifestyle. We have exploited the poor and called it a lottery. We have neglected the needy and called itself preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. In the name of choice, we have killed our unborn. In the name of right to life, we have killed abortionists. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbors’ possessions and called it taxes.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored vaguers of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts today. Try us and show us any wicked way in us. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free. and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas and who have been ordained by you to govern this great state.

Grant them your wisdom to rule and made their decisions, direct us to the center of your will. I asked in the name of your son the living Savior, Jesus Christ, a man.” Now, he got raked over to coal for such a… Did you know in the founding of this country and all the colonies, they all believe this. Almost every one of the states, I should say all of the states in America, give recognitions to the Lord God Almighty about what this country is founded for and of individual states.

But lo and behold, we’ve had something taking change in our country. about little. That is a shame. I had an incident that took place up in Georgia. Any of y’all here ever heard of the CLA Christian Law Association? Some of y’all had years ago I came down here and I had the opportunity of giving devotion for them. And so I got a chance to meet a few of them. And I became the pastor up there in Athens, Georgia. Well, there just happens to be a guy that was up there, James Hunter, who was on the Oconee County School Board.

And him and a lady named Kay Shepherd was on the board, and they didn’t like the idea of evolution being taught in the county. Riy. So they wanted an alternative. And they want to have something about creation. They’re on the board. Their opinion. You think, well, everybody ought to have the freedom of education. Let them hear both sides. No, when you’re an evolutionist, you don’t want those kids to hear the other side. You don’t want to hear that. So anyway, this guy contacted me and he asked me.

He says, would you be interested in helping me? I said, I’ll do anything I possibly can. So anyway, I was contacted by CLA. And you ever heard of a guy named Ken Ham? Ken Ham has the creation thing that’s up there, a big museum and so on. And anyway, they wanted to come to our church. And so they needed a place I didn’t find. But what I did is I got very interested. A few years back, Michael Adams, who is the president of the University of Georgia, he threw this office.

They asked me if I would go to the University of Georgia. They were having this great big dinner. They had a lot of legislators there. So I got a chance to sit up on the platform, know with all these big shots, you know, and I’m sitting down here on this end. I didn’t even know who was sitting on the side to meet them. I didn’t know some of these people. But anyway, there were politicians and all that. So I enjoyed my meal, got a chance to shake hand with a few of the important people.

And I gave a prayer. I felt ashamed of myself. I didn’t pray like this guy did. I just gave a little prayer for the food. But anyway, I got a nice little letter from Michael Adams and I started doing some digging. So I went down to the law library and I asked him. says, I want to see the original charter of the University of Georgia. So they says, we don’t know where it is. I says, the original charter, you know, when the founding fathers got together and they made this document, it had to go through the legislature in Atlanta.

I says, there’s got to be an original document. Lo and behold, they kept searching and it was upstairs in an attic, some back papers, and they finally found a copy of it. It was nowhere anybody could find it, but I found one. And I got it and I even made a copy of it. And it just blew my mind to know how these guys were thinking because this was one of the first universities in the country, especially in Georgia, it was a person.

So I read it and I made some copies. And this is what it listens to this. As it is the distinguishing happiness of free governments, that civil order should be the result of choice, not necessity. And the common wishes of the people become the laws of the land. Their public prosperity and even existence very much depends upon suitably forming the minds and morals of their citizens. In other words, you want to have a good country, you’ve got to educate the people, and they’ve got to know what standards to have, what to believe, understanding our founding documents, to be able to think and the reason to relate, to record, to understand how to make wise decisions.

Then it says, when the mind of people in general are viciously disposed and unprincipled and their conduct disorderly, a free government will be attended with greater confusion and with evils more horrid than the wild uncultivated state of nature. It can only be happy when the public principles and opinions are properly directed and their manners regulated. This is an influence beyond the stretch of laws and punishment. In other words, laws can’t make people like this. This is what I was talking about in Sunday School.

And what they had is similar to all the universities and colleges that were founded at the beginning of this country. And get what he said. This is an influence beyond the stretch of laws and punishment and can be claimed only. And they use the word religion, but I believe that the word religion is not necessarily a bad word if we can refer to it as true Christian. But it says only by religion and education, it should therefore be among the first objects of those who wish well to the national prosperity to encourage and support the principles of religion and morality and early to place the youth under the forming hand of society that by instructing instructions, they may be molded to the love of virtue and good order.

Now they that started this country and was instrumental and started many of the universities and colleges and some of these great men served on the Supreme Court. They served in the legislature. They were men of character and they established these things and it was for the purpose of educating them concerning Christianity. See how do you know it was Christianity? I knew you was going to say that. So I’m going to show you. It makes a statement. This country and the times of our common danger and distress found such security and the principles and abilities which wise regulations has long or before established in the mind of our countrymen.

So what was in the mind of our countrymen that started the country, they wanted to take that and put it into the minds of the next generation in order to secure the country. And then he says that our present happiness joined to pleasing prospect should conspire to make us feel ourselves under the strongest obligation to form the youth, the rising hope of our land to render the like glorious and essential service to our country. And this is what he says in the ninth thing on page 10 of the Georgia Review.

All officers, all officers, appointed to the instruction and the government of the university to all officers, people to teach and those that rule the trustees, all the shall be of the Christian religion, not any religion, the Christian religion. And then they stayed this, the trustee shall not exclude any person of any religious denomination whatsoever from free and equal liberty and advantages of education or from any of the liberties, privileges and and immunities of the university in his education. In other words, all the board members and all the instructors had to be the Christian religion, but anybody from anywhere could come and be educated by those who believe in Christianity.

Now, if it is unconstitutional today, Blessed be God, why wasn’t it unconstitutional at the founding of these universities? Because it was not unconstitutional. It is not wrong to teach about Christ. That’s how they plan to preserve this country and we have allowed people to come along and tell you, you can’t do that. But you, you can’t do that. And why not? God. That’s why it was founded so that we could. Anyway, I wanted to read this one statement to you.

There was to be no religious test of any sort imposed upon prospective students. Indeed, one of the paragraphs of the charter provided them, the trustee shall not exclude any person. And then he says, at the same time, it was provided in another section of the charter that all officers of instruction or administration of the university should be of the Christian religion. That’s in the founding. I wonder why it was hid back in some documents and nobody can find a copy of it.

Because see, they don’t want these things out. Just like they don’t want to teach the kids today our true understanding and the intent of the Constitution because they might lose the control of the kids. And that’s what they consider to be their voting power, their box coming up, that gives them power because, see, they’ll be like little animals. They can’t think, they can’t raise them. Most adults today can’t. All they look at is the government owes me. Give me, give me, give me, give me, give me.

I think it was Patrick in and says, give me liberty or give me death. Next generation says, give me liberty. Next generation just says, give me. When they had asked me about holding the meeting up there with the CLA, they’re on radio all over the United States. There was a guy that works for the University of Georgia. When they made this statement on the board about what they wanted to do, well they had some people that were very upset that teach at the University of Georgia.

This is what he says. Enough is enough. A County County school board member James Hunter and James K. Shepherd or an embarrassment to the school system and to Oconee County as again has been demonstrated by their recent efforts to require the teach and so-called creation science. Neither appear to have the slightest notion of what evolution a biology is all about. Having studied, taught, and researched evolutionary biology for over 30 years at the University of Lebanon, I can at least claim some knowledge of the field.

He’s just having enough problems in today’s school environment without having the stress and pressure placed upon them by poorly informed school board members. Both should resign immediately. He says a few things. So I wrote him a letter to the editor. Can I read it to you? This is what I wrote. I remember I’m a nice guy. Samuel B. Jones that wrote that letter asked for a responsible clergy to comment on decisions of the Oconee County School Board members concerning the Creation Magazine being placed in the library.

My comments are in response to your article on the editorial page. First of all, I was there. I thought all the board members were very kind, gracious and informative in their remarks. I believe it is a shame to intimidate or humiliate 100k Shephram just because their views are different from yours. Has it become a requirement for all board members to adhere to the theory of evolution? Secondly, your article assumes that only people holding the view of evolution are dedicated, intelligent, and educated.

And that all others are self-serving, insulting, uneducated, embarrassing, and have no intestinal fortitude to speak out or to take a stand like you. Certainly since you are an instructor in evolution at the University of Georgia, perhaps you should get a copy of the founding charter of the UGA. It was written by the representatives of the state of Georgia in General Assembly. I quote all officers appoint to the instruction and government of the University shall be of the Christian religion.

Would you have recommended that these founders immediately resign for believing the same thing that James Hunter and K. Shepherd believe? Didn’t you know that the president who took office on June the 15th 1819 was a preacher the Christian faith? Name Reverend Modell Moses Wardell This charter also states that the UGA was for the purpose of forming the mind and morals of their citizens and that this was possible Only by religion in education doesn’t seem like our founding fathers ever intended for there to be a separation of God Morality or the Christian religion from education doesn’t Since I accepted your challenge, I would like to challenge you to get a copy of the original chart of the UGA.

If you cannot agree with that and uphold it, you should do as you have recommended to James Hunter and K. Shepherd by resigning immediately. So, some things just makes my blood boil. And, uh, by the way, if you’re here this morning and you believe in evolution, it ain’t true. And I will be speaking on that coming up very soon because I believe the Bible and I believe in creation. And this country that we say we so love was done by those who believed in this book.

And they say the only way you can preserve this country is by teaching people this book. And that’s why the colleges and universities were started to educate the people and the the people that came out of those places, they were preachers of the Christian faith. Now I believe we ought to get back to it. If we want a revival in this country, it’s going to be happened because we went back to this. We’ve lost our direction. How do we straight away from our source?

And that happens in people’s lives. A man and a woman get married and then, oh, the love, love, love, love, and then they start direct in the way. And it happens in churches. You can come here this morning and say, no, he’s the greatest preacher in the world. Now, I’m not going to argue with you. But you know, in about a week or two, if I say something that offends you, all it takes is one thing. You’ll forget about those 99 good things that I say.

Well, he said that, and I’ll never forgive him for that. He ain’t got a chance. So thanks for being here today. But before Before you leave, I got just one little other item I want to mention to you. Look up here. . . . . . . You said, we didn’t teach nothing much about the Bible. Everything I talked about was about the Bible. It’s because of my knowledge in the Bible, I can read different articles and pull things together.

And if you listen to what I’m saying, they’ll make sense. It’s to help our people. I don’t want us to become slaves down the road. But look up here, this is you and me. This wall represents sin. We all have sin on it. Now God, he says he loves us. I hate our sin, but he loves us. But since we’ve all sinned, we’re all condemned. And everybody does things wrong. I remember one day I did something wrong. But God says he loves us and doesn’t want us to go to hell.

He wants us to go to heaven. To go to heaven, you have to be perfect as righteous as God. None of us are perfect. We’ve all sinned. We’ve all come short of God’s perfection. So the Bible says that you and I, we need a Savior. God says, you can’t save yourself. It’s not your good works that get you to heaven. Go into church and give them money and all those things. Won’t get you to heaven. 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 Christ took the sin, paid for them to cross, came back again from the dead. Said it will believe that he did it for us, it put that payment to our account and we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did. That’s good news. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. The whosoever believed it in Him should not perish, won’t go to hell, but have everlasting life.

He said, if you believe this, these things have already done to you that belief that you may know that you have eternal life. I know I have eternal life. He said, he that believeth on me, half, present and half, right now, half everlasting life. If you believe it, you have something. What do you have everlasting life? You say, well, I believe it. Do you have eternal life? Well, I don’t know it. Then you don’t believe it. believe it, you got it.

And say, how do I know when I really believe when you can say you got it? You can’t say you got it, you don’t believe it. You understand what that simple Bible is? The best news in the world, let’s pray, shall we? With every head bowed and every eye closed and no one looking around. If you hear this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ as your savior, I can’t save you. North and the church. But Jesus Christ can, He is the Lord, He is God in the flesh.

You can’t make a mistake this way, the true and living God knows who you are, knows what you’ve done. He’s the one that sent his son to pay for everything you’ve ever done. And if you’ll trust him, he’ll save you and give you eternal life as a gift. I pray that you’ll trust him. It’s a sign of good judgment. A person has to be a fool to turn down a free gift. And I pray you’ll be wise. So with his bow nice clothes and no one looking around, if you will trust Christ as your Savior this morning, I’d like to know it.

I’d like to have prayer for you. So I’m going to ask you to let me know by simply slipping you in a real quick and put it right back down. Does anyone at all say yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior, and I’d like you to pray for me. My Father, we do thank you so much for the privilege we have to live here. And Father, we pray here, hand to be upon those that are in Washington that make decisions that affect all of our lives.

You say for us to pray for our leaders and that they’ll be wise and do right so that we can be able to quiet and peaceful life. That’s what we want. We ask now your blessings upon the person here, 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 yourvernment 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. 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 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.

Today’s message is a little difficult for me because I feel like the guy that gets off the horse and pin different directions. So many things I want to say, and sometimes you’re not sure exactly how to say it. Anybody that knows me at all knows that I wouldn’t purposely offend anybody. And that’s the truth. I’m really a nice guy. But I have mixed emotions because I don’t like what I see coming in this country. I sometimes wish I didn’t see anything coming, that I would just focus upon now and nothing else mattered.

But the Bible says it means hearts failing them for fear, seeing those things that are coming. And if they can see them, I can see them. If you listen to a lot of the news today and commentators and everybody’s like they’re warning about something terrible going to happen. Many people don’t believe the country is going to get turned around. A lot don’t believe that the economy is going to be revived again. Some don’t believe the stop marks are going to go back again.

I don’t really know. I’ve got my opinion on a few things. But I do thank the Lord for allowing me the privilege of 68 years to live in a wonderful country where I can freely serve the Lord. But I do have a fear for my kids and my grandkids. I don’t think they’re going to have the freedoms that I’ve had. I think it’s going to get worse. And I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Colossians in chapter 2.

We’ll start there and see where we end up. I want you to stay with me. Follow my ramblings. Now you know it. Sometimes I use some notes. Sometimes I don’t use any notes at all. You say, I’ve noticed that. Sometimes I haven’t got a clue how long my sermon’s going to be or how short it’s going to be. I just talk until I get through. Today I might talk for two or three hours. And yes, I’ve got a few notes here.

I want to read to you a few things that I think it’s important for us to know. Here in Colossians in chapter two, I want you to look there at what Paul says as he writes to the Christians are at class. In chapter two, in verse six, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Well, how did you receive him? By faith. Faith alone in the payment that Christ made on the cross for you, you trusted him as your Savior, and God gave you eternal life.

You were born into his family. Well, he says you’re the walk the way you were saved. By faith. Taking God at his word. believe in that what he says is true, seeing life through the word of God, seeing the future through the word of God. I try not to let the world interpret the Bible, I try to use the Bible to interpret what’s going on. And he made the statement here in verse 7 that when you’re talking about as you have received the Lord, so walk ye in him, and this is what he means, rooted and built up in him, established in the faith as you have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving.

So God wants us to be rooted in the Word of God, built up in what He says, so we’ll go deep and go high in God’s Word so that we can live the way God wants us to live. Now, I actually believe that if God wanted us to win everybody in the world to the Lord, then this would be the will of God for everybody in the world. But we haven’t reached everybody in the world. But if we could just get God’s people to be rooted in the Word of God and built up in the Word of God, we could win the world.

We could reach the world. We could change things. Look what he says in verse 8. He also gives us a positive and a negative. Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. So you and I are supposed to be aware, there’s a lot of false teaching, humanistic philosophy in this world to get you and I not to follow Christ so that we don’t do what God wants us to do, so we’re not as strong as we ought to be.

I believe in the founding of this country that people that God used knew the book, and they happened to be the ones that God was able to use to bring this nation together and did a great work. Let me read this to you. On January the 13th, 1947, U.S. Senate, Chaplain Peter Marshall. Anybody ever heard of Peter Marshall? A lot of you have. He says, the choice before us is plain. Christ or chaos, conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration.

I am rather tired of hearing about our rights. The time has come to hear about responsibilities.” He said this to Congress. And that was in 47. I think they might need another dose. He said this to them. He says, America’s future depends upon her accepting and demonstrating God’s government. Then he made this statement on July the 3rd, 1947, to the 8th Congress. God of our fathers, may it be ever understood that our liberty is under God and to the extent that America honors thee, well, thou bless America.

We just finished singing God Bless America. But I believe God’s blessing on America is going to be on direct ratio to America’s blessing on God. And we’ve got to where we don’t bless God anymore. And the people in place of leadership are not doing what they do in order to honor God. So it might be a little difficult for God to bless America. I crave it and I desire and I want it. But it’s almost like asking God to bless a rebellious child.

But I do want God blessing. So when I pray that God bless America, I’m praying also that God willusercontent America around because God does something in this country that drives people to their knees. Life is going to be over soon. I’m already getting up there where I’m getting close to that 70 mark. I know I don’t have probably a lot of good years left. So I don’t want to live in fear of saying or doing what I should do as a Christian.

I realize that time is short and we need to be diligent about doing the things that God wants us to do. I had read this, especially as we’re celebrating our anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this weekend. These words were uttered by the father of the American Revolution named Samuel Adams. He says, we have this day restored the sovereign, to whom all men ought to be obedient. He arranged in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let his kingdom come.

In other words, when we established this country, he made the statement that we have just formed a government to be under God. This nation was under God. So we often hear about the democratic way, you know, to the people, for the people, by the people, under God. To be just for the people and of the people and by the people is democratic and that’s a democracy and that’s not what we have. We have a republic. I’m not talking about the Republican Party or the Democratic Party.

I’m talking about the form of government that we have that was established. In Benjamin Franklin, I said, thanks, says, we have given to you a republic if you can keep it. But the only way you can keep it the way God gave it is that the generations Afterwards must be taught the scriptures and without the scriptures you cannot maintain our form of government You cannot maintain the freedom of this country without the Bible as the basis of education in this country So I don’t like that.

I don’t hear Later on he made this statement. He says I conceive We cannot better express ourselves than by humblies, supplicating the supreme ruler of the world. That the confusions that are and have been among the nations may be overruled by the promoting and speedily bringing in the holy and happy period when the kingdoms of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may be everywhere established. And the people bow to the scepter of Him who is the Prince of Peace.

Any question about who he’s talking about? Talking about Jesus Christ. I know that historically, 104 of the first 119 colleges and universities in America were founded by Christians. 104 of the 119 colleges and universities in America founded by Christians. Harvard was 100 years old before it had any professors who were not ordained ministers of the gospel. Darceneth was started as a missionary outreach to Indians. Brown was the first Baptist college in America and of first 40,000 graduates in America prior to the Civil War.

10,000 entered the gospel ministry. You see, our founding fathers got this understanding. We can’t preserve this nation if we can’t preserve the education and the people so that they will think the way the founding fathers fought. So they established universities and colleges in order to teach the students how they think think that established this nation.” That’s pretty clear to me. Woodrow Wilson made this statement. He says, “…a nation which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do.

We are trying to do a futile thing If we do not know where we came from or what we have been about, the Bible is the one supreme source of revelation of the meaning of life. That is the President saying this. And he says, the meaning of life, the nature of God and nature and needs of men. It is the only guide of life which really leads the Spirit and the way of peace and salvation. You know, we could use a little bit more of that.

You’ve heard of a guy named Daniel Webster, also Noah Webster, but this is what he said. If there is anything in my thoughts or style to recommend, the credit is due to my parents for instilling in me an early love of the scriptures. If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper. But if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory and profound obscurity.

We have allowed our children to be educated by humanist educators for the most part. Now there’s some good teachers here and principals there, but for the overall most part, our children are being educated in a humanistic philosophy. By the very fact that in majority of schools, we have the teaching of evolution. is a religion of the atheist. An atheist can’t believe in creation because that requires a creator. So the only other alternative is what we got here by a lot of little accidents and mutations.

You know, gases coming together, pfft, y’know. Next thing you know, you got some blob floating around in the ooze of the Nile. And so from a one cell to me, but we have developed into what we are today. And they don’t believe in a God. They’re humanistic. Everything revolves around man. And they have taken our children. And that doesn’t matter. You can take them to church on Sunday, and they will get maybe an hour of Bible teaching. and five days of humanistic philosophy.

And you think that it’s not gonna make a difference in our country and how they feel and what they wanna accomplish with their life? No Webster said this. The principle of all genuine liberty and of wise laws and administrations are to be drawn from the Bible and sustained by its authority. the man, therefore who weakens or destroys the divine authority of that book, may be a accessory to all the public disorders which society is doomed to suffer. And the people that have not the Bible and not Christianity and don’t want God or the Bible in our schools have nothing to do with it, rewrite history, change everything, is accessory to all the public, this society is doomed to suffer.

Because it’s not in man that walk up to direct his steps. That’s why we need a savior. That’s why we need the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to help us to do the things that God wants us to do in order to love like we ought to. And so because they don’t have the spirit of the Lord, they have to pass more laws. And more laws means more freedoms that you and I are going to lose. And so every time the Congress gets together, they are passing some law that takes away some of your rights and your freedoms.

I don’t like what I see coming in America. Let me read this to you because this is so good. Some of you know all this stuff, but there’s probably some of you that never get this. You say, what’s this got to do with the Bible? If you read this Bible, you’ll find out the Bible talks an awful lot about government, all the way through it’s about government, government, government, government. And the role that we’re supposed to play in government and how government affects our life.

It was Paul who knew and understood the law that says, I appeal unto Caesar. Why did he do that? Because he knew the law. He said, I’m free-born, I’ve got rights. That’s why he wound up in Rome. You ever heard of a guy named Paul Harvey? He said this, a Reverend Joe Wright, pastor of the Central Christian Church in Wichita, before the Kansas State Legislature. Now this guy had some gall. He had some intestinal fortitude, we call it? Anyway, he had to pray and in his prayer did he unload?

And when he did, people got up and says that when he finished three members jumped to their feet and indignantly shouted, he can’t talk like that. Another one says that it was gross and divisive sanctimonious overbearing another guy named daily in the Senate called it blasphemous, ignorant, and others in the chamber agreed and were very upset because of what this pastor had to say. Even though it was almost 20 years ago, listen to what he said. He prayed, Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your directions and guidance.

Having a problem with that so far, they did. We know your word says woe to those who call evil good, but that’s exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values. We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your word in the name of moral pluralism. We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it alternative lifestyle. We have exploited the poor and called it a lottery.

We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. In the name of choice, we have killed our unborn. In the name of right to life, we have killed abortionists. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it built in esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbors’ possessions and called it taxes. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts today. Try us and show us any wicked way in us. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas and who have been ordained by you to govern this great state. Let them your wisdom to rule and made their decisions direct us to the center of your will.

I asked in the name of your Son the living Savior Jesus Christ a man. Now He got raked over the cold for such a… But did you know in the founding of this country and all the colonies they all believed this? Almost every one of the states, I should say all of the states in America. recognitions to the Lord God Almighty about what this country is founded for and of individual states. But lo and behold, we’ve had something taking change in our country little by little.

That is a shame. I had an incident that took place up in Georgia. Any of y’all here ever heard of the CLA Christian Law Association from the Yohannan. Years ago I came down here and I had the opportunity of giving devotion for them and so I got a chance to meet a few of them. And I became the pastor up there in Athens, Georgia. Well there just happens to be a guy that was up there, James Hunter, who was on the Oconee County School Board.

And him and a lady named Kay Shepherd was on the board, and they didn’t like the idea of evolution being taught in the county. So they wanted an alternative. And they want to have something about creation. They’re on the board, their opinion. You think, well, everybody ought to have the freedom of education, let them hear both sides. No, when you’re an evolution, so you don’t want those kids to hear the other side. You don’t want to hear that. So anyway, this guy contacted me and he asked me.

He says, would you be interested in helping me? I said, I’ll do anything I possibly can. So anyway, I was contacted by CLA. And you ever heard of a guy named Ken Ham? Ken Ham has the creation thing that’s up there, a big museum and so on. And anyway, they wanted to come to our church and so they needed a place I didn’t find. But what I did is I got very interested.

Few years back, Michael Adams, who is the president of the University of Georgia. He, through his office, they asked me if I would go to the University of Georgia. They were having this great big dinner, and they had a lot of legislators there. So I got a chance to sit up on the platform with all these big shots, you know, and I’m sitting down here on this end. I didn’t even know who was sitting on the side to me.

I didn’t know some of these people. But anyway, there were politicians and all that. So I enjoyed my meal, got a chance to shake hand with a few of the important people. And I gave a prayer. I felt ashamed of myself. I didn’t pray like this guy did. I just gave a little prayer for the food. But anyway, I got a nice little letter from Michael Adams and I started doing some digging. So I went down to the law library and I asked him.

I want to see you at the original charter of the University of Georgia. So they says, we don’t know where it is. I says, the original chart, you know, when the founding fathers got together and they made this document, it had to go through the legislature in Atlanta. I says, there’s got to be an original document. Lo and behold, they kept searching and it was upstairs in an attic, some back papers, and they finally found a copy of it.

It was nowhere anybody could find it, but I found one. And I got it and I even made a copy of it. And it just blew my mind to know how these guys were thinking. Because this was one of the first universities in the country, especially in Georgia. It was a first. So I read it and I made some copies. And this is what it listens to this. As it is the distinguishing happiness of free governments, that civil order should be the result of choice, not necessity.

And the common wishes of the people become the laws of the land. Their public prosperity and even existence very much depends upon suitably forming the minds and morals of their citizens. In other words, you want to have a good country, you’ve got to educate the people, and they’ve got to know what standards to have, what to believe, understanding our founding documents, to be able to think and the reason to relate, to record, to understand how to make wise decisions.

Then it says, when the mind of people in general are viciously disposed and unprincipled, their conduct disorderly, a free government will be attended with greater confusion and with evils more horrid than the wild uncultivated state of nature. It can only be happy when the public principles and opinions are properly directed and their manners regulated. This is an influence beyond the stretch of laws and punishment. In other words, laws can’t make people like this. This is what I was talking about in Sunday school.

And what they had is similar to all the universities and colleges that were founded at the beginning of this country. And get what he said. This is an influence beyond the stretch of laws and punishment and can be claimed only. And they use the word religion, but I believe that the word religion is not necessarily a bad word if we can refer to it as true Christianity. But it says only by religion and education, it should therefore be among the first objects of those who wish well to the national prosperity to encourage and support the principles of religion and morality and early to place the youth under the forming hand of society that by instructing instructions, they may be molded to the love of virtue and good order.

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 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.

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 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.

Turn in your Bible to the book of Zechariah, the book of Zechariah. Gonna look at some scriptures today that, well, if Jesus Christ is not the Messiah, somebody has to fulfill these scriptures. If he’s not the one, then somebody somewhere has to do it if the Word of God is true. And I believe that it is. In Israel I enjoy kind of mingling some talk with a Jewish guide. And one day I saw her downstairs and my wife she says, Yankie, she’s sitting over there.

Once you go talk to her, well at the moment I really didn’t feel too good. I really didn’t want to. But when my wife says, Yankee, you ought to go talk to her, then I go do it. See, there’s the Holy Spirit and there’s my wife. And sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. So I was told that you’d have a happy marriage if you would just obey the scripture that’s in the Old Testament. And she told me about it.

She says, it says, husbands obey your wives and all things for this is right. She says, it’s in the Hebrew, it’s back there somewhere, but in one of these days I’m going to come across that verse. But until then, I talked to the lady and she was very nice. I said, well, if this is not a good time, she says, no, no, no, no, no, no, that’s a good time. And so I sat down, I talked to her a little bit.

And I says, do you believe that the Messiah has already come? Or do you believe He has yet to come? She says, I believe that He has yet to come. I said, so you don’t believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah. I says, it looks like Israel ought to be so thankful for Jesus Christ. I says, you owe your very existence as a nation to Jesus Christ. You owe your economy to Jesus Christ. I says, the only reason America is behind Israel is because of Jesus Christ.

You You take away Jesus Christ and there isn’t much there. She said, oh, we’re thankful for all of you people that come over here. I said, but are you thankful for Jesus Christ? She says, well, we owe an awful lot to all of y’all. It was so difficult to pin her down, to get her to admit. And I always like to try to let him say face a little bit, you know. And I said, well, if Jesus Christ is yet to come, I said, He still has to be born in Bethlehem.

There got to be another guy then, it’s going to be born in Bethlehem. I call it says in Micah chapter 5 and verse 2, but thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though by being little among the thousands of Judea, yet out of thee shall he come forth. That is to be ruler in Israel, who’s going forth to have been from old everlasting. I says, got to come from them. I says, if he’s going to be the king in Israel, I says, it’s amazing in the last 2,000 years.

most of the temple records, all of it, it’s all been destroyed. How is anybody going to come and prove that he is of the line of David, has a right to claim the throne of Israel? How would he be able to prove who he is? I says when Jesus was here, he had a right to claim the throne of Israel. They couldn’t deny him that right. It’s just that they didn’t believe he was. The Messiah, but he was born king of the Jews.

And so he has to be of the tribe of Judah. You know, I believe, I may be wrong, I believe that someday they’ll be able to prove what tribe every Jew is from by their DNA. I believe there’s going to be something found out some miraculous way because there still has to be the 12 tribes. And in the tribulation period, there’s going to be a 12,000 from each tribe. So they’re going to know what tribe, and if they have the temple rebuilt, the tribe of Levi’s, the only one has the right to be able to go into that holy of holies.

But in any way, whatever, we had a good talk. But I said, if Jesus Christ is not the Messiah, then the Messiah still has to come. I believe that Jesus Christ is not a first and last name like Ralph Arnold. Jesus is Jehovah. Yeshua. He is the Savior. He is the keeper, the protector, the provider. He is salvation. Jehovah. Yeshua. He is the Messiah. That’s who he is. God in the flesh. And when they talked about the Messiah, it was that he was going to come and he was going to suffer and there’s going to be glory.

There’s going to be the kingdom. Zechariah, look in chapter 9. Here’s a verse that if this is not referring to Jesus Christ, then it has to happen yet in the future. But look what he says in verse verse nine, verse nine, rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold thy King, cometh unto thee.)), he is just and having salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon the cold, the fold of an ass. This is how you’re going to show up in Jerusalem.

And this isn’t they put the palm leaves and so forth that in front of and branches, shot at Hosanna to the king of Israel. Behold, Matthew and chapter 21. And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem and were come to Vethich, he says unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, go into the village over against you and straight away you shall find an Aztide and a cult with her. Loose them and bring them unto me.

And any man say unto you, you shall say the Lord half need of them, and straight away or immediately will send them. And the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them and brought the the ass and the colt and put on them their clothes and they set him there on. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way. Others cut down branches from the trees and strawed them in the way. And the multitude that went before and that followed cried saying, Hosanna to the Son of David.

Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved saying, who is this? And the multitude said, this is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. That’s who he was, all this written in advance. This is when he came the first time. Now go back there in the book of Zechariah. He made a payment for the sins of the world. The first time he comes see is lowly.

He comes as a lamb to be led to the slaughter. He opened not his mouth. Before his shears, he was dumb. He didn’t defend himself. He allowed them to do whatever they wanted to do with him. Now look there in Zechariah and I said unto them, if ye think good, give me my price and if not for bear, good on the line this next part of the verse. So they wait for my price, thirty pieces of silver. Jesus was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver.

That’s why I believe these connecting verses could have something to say about Jesus Christ. Now, if this is not talking about Jesus Christ and it still has to be fulfilled, somebody will betray Him for the thirty pieces of silver. And He says, and the Lord said unto me, cast it unto the potter because the money was used about the potter’s field. You see how Scripture has the perfectly dubbed tale and yet this was written almost 500 years. In advance, before Jesus Christ ever came.

Now, to me in my mind, if I was Jewish and I was reading these scriptures, I’d want to know who is this talking about? If I was to read Isaiah 53, Lord, who have believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? I want to know who in the world is talking about. grow up before him as a tender plant. All our iniquity was placed upon him. All we like, sheep have gone astray. And he had laid upon him the iniquity of us all.

I’d wonder what now who is he’s talking about? And yet he was to die, come back again from the dead. All that’s mentioned in Isaiah 53. And yet the Bible says there is a veil that’s pulled down over their eyes so that they cannot see. Those who want to see, can see. And those that don’t want to see, can’t see it. Zechariah chapter 12 and looking verse 1, the burden or the message, the warning here of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stricts forth the heavens and left the foundation of the year, form the spirit of man which is within him.

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round the bow, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. We are living at a day and a time in this country. When Israel don’t have a lot of friends, but we’re living at a time where we’re seeing things with the accelerator on the floorboard and things are happening very quickly, even in our nation. But look in verse 10 of chapter 12 of Zechariah, and I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication, and they shall look upon me, and me is Tabbalah, chapter L-O-R-D, it’s the Lord, and they shall look upon Jehovah, whom they have pierced.

did they do this? See, this is a scripture that’s talking about in the future. Well, by the time this is fulfilled, the Lord had to come. See, that’s why when it talks about Jesus Christ and the government shall be upon his shoulder and he shall be called the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. How can he be an everlasting Father unless he has an everlasting Son. And he is the mighty God. Jesus Christ was to be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted as God with us.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory. The The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus is Jehovah. Jesus Belgae is God. I’m not just believing in some man that lived or some prophet. Jesus Christ was God revealed in flesh. And He came into this world to do what He said He would do and He did it.

He came to suffer. He came to die. He knew He would be rejected. He came unto his own and his own received him not, but as many as received him to them gave he the power, the right, the authority to become the sons of God. You can’t make people trust Jesus Christ as their Savior. All we can do is present it and let people make their own decision. I’m just thankful that somebody explained that to me and I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior.

You see, I was always under the impression, good boys went to heaven and bad girls went to hell. Well, I didn’t know any good girls that died. I guess they were all bad. But I was told that, you know, if you’re good, you’ll go up and if you’re bad, you’ll go down. But nobody ever told me how good it had to be to go up and nobody had to tell me how bad it had to be to go down.

So I had mixed emotions. I really didn’t know where I was going to go when I died. I wanted to go to heaven. I wanted to go to heaven so bad, and I didn’t want to go to hell, that I was afraid to swear a cuss word. I was afraid to take a smoke. I was afraid to take a drink, because I was told that those things would keep you from heaven. And they’ll send you straight to hell. When I was 18 years old, my father-in-law sat down with me in a living room and opened up the Bible and showed me John 3 16.

And when he explained John 3 16, I finally understood that if what he said was true, I’m on bust hell wide open, because I had never trusted Christ as my Savior. And I knew then that all I had to do is to believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross and paid for my sins. And if I trusted Him, that God would save me and give me eternal life. And I’d go to heaven because of it.

So simple. I didn’t have to earn it. I didn’t have to deserve it. I don’t have to live for Him. I didn’t have to stop anything, join Him, you think? Just believe it. that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I believe that I have eternal life and I’m going to heaven whenever I die. I didn’t know all this other stuff was in the Bible. The boy I’m glad when my father tried to start teaching me the Bible. I thought that’s such a big book.

I didn’t know there was an Old Testament and New Testament. I didn’t know. He just opened up the Gospel of John says, just start reading here. And I started reading the Gospel of John. It’s like a riot chapter 13, looking verse 6. And one shall say unto him, what are these wounds in thy hands? And he shall answer those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. He came into his own, he was rejected, they crucified him and says, they shall look upon me whom they have pierced.

And then And when he comes back and they see the scars, Israel will know he is the Messiah. He got these see the first time he came. The next time he comes back in power and great glory at the end of the tribulation period in order to keep man from destroying mankind from the face of the earth. Look what he says in verse 9 of chapter 14, and the Lord shall be king over all the earth. when the Lord comes back, the one that has the scars in his hands and his feet, he is going to be king over all the earth.

Did you know that the day is coming when little israel is going to be the greatest nation on the face of the earth? You see, I can’t believe that. Believe it. The book is true. And that day shall there be one Lord is name one. Look what he says there in verse 16, of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the king. The Lord of Host, and to keep the feast of the tabernacle, this day is coming.

This is into the millennium. See, God gives us a snapshot here, 500 years before Christ ever came. He’s coming. He is salvation. He is just. He makes a payment for the sins of the world. In Isaiah chapter 61, look there in verse 1, it makes a statement, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me. Now there’s the Trinity right there in that one verse. the Holy Spirit, Jehovah, and upon me Christ. Because the Lord hath the nordin’ me to preach good titans unto the meek, he hath sent me to bind up the broken heart of to proclaim liberty to the captain and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn.

Now, I want you to notice now in verse two, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, period. And the day of vengeance of our God is a different thought. Now, you wouldn’t know that by just reading this verse because it doesn’t seem like it seems like it just all flows together. But between the first part of that verse and the last part of that verse is over 2,000 years. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Luke, the Gospel of Luke.

And notice they’re in Luke chapter 4. Stay with me now. Don’t go to sleep on me. I hate when people go to sleep on me. I told one guy, I said, would you wake up that person sitting beside you? He says, nope. He says, you put him to sleep. You wake him up. Now, look there in chapter 4 and verse 16. It came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, stood up for to read.

There was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. So now Jesus, almost 700 years after what we just read in Isaiah 61. Seven hundred years later, Jesus walks into the synagogue and he stands up to read and they give him the scroll. He opens up the scroll of the book of Isaiah. And he begins to read. And what does he read? In verse 17, and there was delivered to him the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written.

The spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the broken heart of the preached deliverance to the captives, recovering of the sight to the blind, to set it liberty, them that are bruised, to preach in verse 9, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Now, why didn’t he read the last part of the verse? He didn’t. He read that much of the verse and get what he said.

He closed the book, gave it again to the minister, and he sat down. and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say to them, this scripture, this day, is fulfilled in your ears. This is the acceptable year of the Lord. In other words, God kept telling him, hey, I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m coming. Jesus says, I’m here.

And they didn’t know the day of his visitation. You said, well, I don’t know if the Bible is true. You disprove all these things I’ve already showed you. You explained to me how they could have been written 500 to 700 years in advance before it ever happened. No man can do this. This is a supernatural book. They have found the Dead Sea Scrolls. They have found the book of Isaiah, and they were written before Jesus Christ ever came here.

Jesus, when he was here, read from those books. You see, for three and a half years, they wanted to kill this guy. And he was the one that they read about every seventh day. But the veil was over their eyes, and the one that they keep reading about in the scriptures they kept studying, he’s standing there. It was him. And yet people can’t see it. Well, I believe it. Take your Bible, look there in the book of Luke in chapter 19.

Look in Luke chapter 19. Because it finishes the verse. It seems like toward the end of the book of Luke, he finally finishes that verse. But look why. In Luke chapter 19, look there in verse 41. And when he was come near, he beheld the city and he wept over it. Now look why he wept. Why do you think he wept? Look at this. He said, if thou hath known, even thou at least in this thy day, the things which belong onto thy peace, but now their head from thine eyes.

For the day shall come upon thee, that thine enemy shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee around, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children with indy, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another.” And you ought to underline this part of the verse. Why? Why was the temple destroyed? Why was the nation of Israel destroyed? Why were they cast into the earth? Because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

I told you I was coming. I even told you the year I’d come. I told you the place that I would come. I told you my line of David and tribe of Judah. I told you everything in advance. And I came just like I told you I would. And he overlooks the city, the weeps. Have you ever wondered how God must feel? How God thinks? If he does this for the nation, do you think that God in heaven looks at you and me and weeps over us?

Does God know that you have mocked him, He trained him, despised him, and you won’t trust Christ as you’re saving. You don’t believe He is who are He is. Don’t you think that hurts God? Or is your conscience so seared that you have no sensitivity, no feeling? Is Jesus Christ the real Messiah? Or is He yet to come? I believe that Jesus Christ was who He claimed to be. He came the first time just like He said He would, The field of scripture is just like he said, that he died on the cross, was buried.

I believe he came back from the dead, ascended into heaven, and he’s coming again. Look up here. This hand represents you and me and the wallet represents sin. We all have sin on this. God loves us. Hates our sin, but He loves us. And He says, because of sin, it has to be paid. And God says, to go to heaven, you’ve got to be perfect and none of us are perfect. God says, you can’t earn eternal life. You can’t work your way to heaven.

If I offered you my glasses and you’re accepting them, I have a pair of glasses. I offered you my wallet, you have a wallet. I offered you my Bible, you have a Bible. Christ walked in the house. and here and offered you eternal life, and you accepted, you would have eternal life. And if it’s eternal life, it would last forever. If it lasts forever, and all you’re saying to pay, where would you go when you die? And you go to heaven, what he did.

Let’s pray, shall we? Every head bound, every eye closed, no one looking around. I hope that what I’ve said made sense to you. If you have questions and doubts about trusting Christ because you just don’t know who he is, I can understand that. But if you listen to what I said today, there’s proof, there’s evidence. There’s a reason why you should. A reasonable man can look at the reasonable evidence and come out to unreasonable conclusion. Would you trust him?

I’m not going to have you forward. Not going to embarrass you. Not going to have you do anything. But right where you’re sitting, would you just talk to the Lord and say something simple like this, Lord, I know I’m a sinner, and I believe Jesus Christ was the Messiah. I believe He is God in the flesh. He promised He would come, and He did. He died on the cross and paid for my sins. I believe He did it for me.

And with the headbob nice closed, would you just say that to the Lord? Lord, I believe He did it for me, and I’m going to trust Him as my Savior right now. Now friend, you can only get saved once. If you’ve already done it, you don’t need to do it again. But if you’ve never done it before, and you’ll trust Christ as your Savior right now, I’d like to have prayer for you. I’d like to know what I said made sense to you, and I’d like to pray for you in closing.

Anyone at all before we close? So yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior, and preach, I’d like you to pray for me. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, then look for Him to come the second time. He’s not coming back the second time to make an offering for sin. He’s coming back to rule as the King of Israel. Our Father, we thank You so much for the offer done we have to come together as a body of believers, to read Your Word, study it, believe it.

We pray that those challenges motivate us to do what’s right. not because we have to, but because we want to. 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 1-800-576-3777.

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

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radiolity internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us to our church and take a look at the Bibleline. free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at Calvary of Tampa.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.

God knew what He was doing. He made all these wonderful things. And then the Bible says that all these things, and then when you read the book of Genesis and talked about all these creeping things and every thing, but they’re just things. What is more important? The baby crib or the baby? What’s more important? The baby’s milk and the food or the baby? weren’t important to baby or the diapers. If you can understand that little simple thing, here you are in this world.

And God made all this wonderful thing. He made all the animals, he made the planets and the story heavens and he made the earth and he made the clouds and the rain and the flowers and the trees and all this wonderful sunset that we enjoyed, the sunrise. Yes, some people don’t even know the sun comes up gradually. But God made all these wonderful things. And lo and behold, what do you think is more important? The person that God did it for are the things that he made.

The person, you are more important than the things that he gave to you. See those are just things. They’re temporary things. But the shame of it all is if what if you and I were to make the biggest, dumbest, stupid, foolish mistake of falling in love with the things instead of the one that loves us? Did you know that there are people in this world that don’t love the one that made them and gave them all that? reject Him and thought I love with this.

And why would God make us so that we would love Him? So God is not satisfied when we love people or things or the world more than we love God. What would it be a shame for a family to do so much for a little baby? And they shower this little baby with all kind of things, because they love this little baby. And then the little baby grows up and despises the mom and dad that gave them so much and did so much for them.

And then they despise them. You think it would hurt? You think it hurts? Well, of course it does. You think that God is hurt when we don’t love Him and we love things more? You know there’s people who don’t worry about if they never spend any time with God, but if you don’t come around and give many attention, they get mad and pout and pine and moan and groan. Well, take your Bible and turn to the book of Romans in chapter 1.

in chapter one. There’s a scripture there, I’ve used it in different ways, but I want to relate something else to you. Look there in verse 21, verse 21, Romans chapter 1. Here you are in this wonderful world that God has made and God spent some time preparing everything for us because he loves us. I can’t explain why he loves us, but he does. He made us in his image. He made us because he wants us and he loves us and he prepared so many thanks for us to freely enjoy but there are many things they’re just things This world is just a thing.

It’s not a person. And so it says here in verse 21, because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. So what is the key? That if you know there’s a God, it is accepted, expected that you would glorify Him as God. Don’t you see that? You look at that verse and see if that ain’t what you see. That when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. God, in other words, it was an expectation that they should have.

If God has done so much for you, isn’t it only reasonable for God to expect? You to be thankful? Huh? Look what it says. Neither were what? Neither were thankful. All right, so God expects you to glorify Him because He’s God. Look what He did for you. Remember, there’s no person ever been born on this earth before you have to do this greater than you. I’m not talking about Jesus Christ, I’m not talking about humanly speaking. And God doesn’t love anybody more than you, doesn’t love anybody less than you.

God’s a loved world and you and I are in the world. And because of God’s great love for us, isn’t it a shame that we Sometimes fall in love with the things that he made like a little baby Growing up and falling in love with the tricycle and and hating mom and dad They gave him the tricycle because they love them Some come make sense does it and when God has been so good to us Isn’t it a shame even for a Christian?

After God has saved him giving me eternal life not to serve a Lord Don’t you think that’s a slap in God’s face not to honor God now get what he says here several thing it says they became vain and In verse 12 became fools The same ones that God loved did so much for instead of them then so thankful for these Things that God gave to him to enjoy for his happiness for pleasure for true enjoyment in life They don’t love God, they gaveigroup.

And all God wanted, this is just to show how much God loves us. And we won’t love Him back for it. And God says that you become vain in your imagination and you became fools. So everyone who is not glorifying God what they’re like, giving God glory for what He it and giving God thanks to what is done. The Bible says, being unthankful, they become fools.

We’re going to be ashamed for you to be listed in this portion of the script. This is talking about you. Their foolish heart was darkened. Look in verse 25 and changed the glory of the Uncorruptible God into an image may like to corruptible man in other words. They wind up worshiping the creation Instead of God the creator You’re hearing by talk about Mother Nature It’s not nice to be cruel to Mother Nature Well Nature is not my mother I Don’t believe in evolution The other thing in verse 24, wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness to the lust of their own hearts to get dishonor themselves.

So they become vain in their imagination and they become bold and they dishonor themselves and they don’t bring honor to God, they don’t bring honor to themselves. And then in the next verse he says, they changed the truth of God into a lie. And then for the rest of their life, they live a lie. They’re deceived, don’t understand it, and they’re a fool. Isn’t it a shame? That’s not how God intended it. Because we make so many foolish decisions with our life instead of seeking the will of God.

Do you know what God wanted more than anything after he created Adam and Eve? the Bible said that he walked with him and talked with him in the cool of the evening in the garden of Eden. He even made a beautiful garden for them. What? was Lord important? The man and the woman or the garden? The garden was made for them. That’s why God did it. God did all those things for them. Now listen, God hasn’t stopped. The thing that he made then is still now, it’s just not in this perfect form, but didn’t God still give us airy breath?

Ah, I don’t feel good breathing. Don’t you enjoy eating? I’m gonna have to, today, and I ate. Oh, it is. So I enjoy food. I think that’s one of the greatest inventions of all time. Food. I love to eat. My problem is not eating so much. And that looks like it might be somebody else’s problem too, but I am not talking about who it is. But everybody deals with the problem of overeating. I hate it when Milton Hale can sit down and eat 10 meals a day, and gorge on everyone and not gain an ounce.

That’s not fair. Gina, look at Gina! I’ve been… She’s… She’ll never be back. She’ll never be back. She’ll never be back. And probably, you know, look at her look, and probably look at her look at her life. And there’s others who struggle with it, and they can’t even look at a doughnut without getting in a pile. Just look at that. And Gina, but Robin can eat a whole dozen of them, and it won’t bother. Because her mother and her sisters, they’re all the same.

It runs in the family. That’s not fair. But somebody told me that life isn’t fair. life isn’t fair. Well, I guess not. But you see what I’m saying is, is that you begin to change things. When you’re not glorifying the Lord with your life and you’re not thankful to God, you become vain in your imagination. You won’t think right. You become a fool, but you won’t think you’re full. You’ll think you’re wise. You’ll think you’re smart. And you’ll begin to make your own decisions in about everything.

You don’t need God. You don’t need to read the Bible. You don’t need to go to church. You know what you’re saying? I’m too smart for all of that. That means you’re dumb. Just the way a dumb man thinks. I don’t need God to tell me what I can and cannot do. Now take your Bible and turn back there to the Old Testament, to the book of Genesis chapter 22. Genesis and chapter 22. Everybody knows the story of Abraham and Isaac.

Remember Abraham was an old man. He was about right at 100 years old when his child was born. He was 100 years old. His wife was 90 when she had a baby. Good night. I don’t believe God ever intended for the normal individual to have kids when they’re 100 years old. I don’t have the patience for them. I love to see them come. I love to see them go. Grandkids is the reward for not killing your teenagers when you had a chance.

But it is so wonderful. My grandkids, if I knew this, I’d have had them first. But don’t work that way. But the Bible says that God loved the man. And this man’s name was Abraham. God was going to do something different with this man. He’s going to take a man and And by a miracle, give him a child in his old age. And so the Bible says that Sarah was past the age of child bearing and that her womb was dead so to space she couldn’t have any children.

So God’s going to have to work a miracle and work a miracle he did. And a child was born. But you see before this child was born, so God already prepared, gave him a wonderful dad and mom. So that when this kid is born, he’s going to have a tremendous father. This is going to be a exceptional child. If this child is going to be the father of a great nation, and so from him, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he had 12 sons and but there’s the nation of Israel.

And the whole world has been blessed because of the nation of Israel. We don’t know all the way back to O Father Abraham. as time goes on the child is born I can imagine watching old Abraham outside the tent he’s already been gone through 13 years with Ishmael but this was his own this is the one that God said that he’s gonna blast this is gonna be his heir this one was special so time did Tom where they came trouble between Hagar and Sarah and so on.

She had to leave and take Ishmael’s weather, so they left. But this child was different. This is a miracle child. Neighbor Ham knew it. For some reason, rather, he really loved this child. Look up there in verse 2. And God, speaking to Abraham, said, and he said, take now by son, thy only son, Isaac. And you ought to underline these three words. home thou loveth. You see there’s there’s a God in heaven that so loved man that he was willing to make for us anything we would have ever desired.

Who in the world today doesn’t desire the Garden of Eden? To live forever and to be in the Garden of Eden everybody wishes that. We’re always talking about being I wish I could be in paradise. Well, there are some Muslims that are dying to get to paradise, but they didn’t think we’re talking about. They think there’s 70 birds waiting for them. There were 70 Virginians up here waiting on them. But anyway, the Bible tells us that God said, whom thou loveth.

Now, if if Abraham I really loved Isaac. What is going to be the greatest test of his love? You see, God doesn’t mind all the things in the world that he made for man to enjoy. But God never intended anything in the world to take the throne of his heart. You see, you and I are supposed to have some little empty spot, somewhere in us that is like a holy place. It’s like there’s a little altar inside of us, a place where you meet with God and nothing else will satisfy.

And you can try to put anything else in there you want, but it doesn’t belong there. It doesn’t fit. It still leaves you empty. God designed that little holy spot within you to be filled only with the presence of God. And God is a very jealous God and God doesn’t want anything on the throne of your life except Him. God only wants you to worship one. That’s Him. God wants you and I to love Him more than anything you’ve ever made.

Anything you’ve ever seen, God is a jealous God and God wants you and I to worship Him, to love Him. Here’s a for him, his only son, and he loves his son. The Bible says, God knew he loved his son, but I wonder if along the way there’s a possibility that I’d give anything for my son. I love my son more than anything. Maybe he said I love my son greater than I love anything or anyone or anybody or maybe evenNormally God.

I WRITE HIM NO. Maybe he saw so much hopes and dreams and that little boy, because that little boy is an unusual little boy. That was given to me by God. I wonder if you could have seen that that was maybe just another thing that could take the throne that only belongs to God. Well do you know what this little experiment was on Mount Moriah? There’s some symbolism here. And on Mount Moriah is the very mount of all which Jesus tries to die a couple thousand years later.

I’ve been there. I’ve stood on that mount. And they believe that where the temple was built is a very same spot where Abraham offered up his son Isaac. So we know that Abraham is a type of God who so loved the world that was going to give his only begotten son. And so God says, not Abraham, I want you to take your only son, hope your love. And we’re going to see just how much you love your son. Do you love your son more than you love me?

Do you love your wife more than you love God? Do you love your children more than you love God? Do you love your home, your car, your money, your security? Do you love what? More than you love God. Well, God will put things to attest at times. Now, what a test this was. The Bible says, God said, Abraham, I want you to take your son up on that mountain. I want you to build an altar. And I want you to slay your son upon that altar.

What do you think was going through the mind? Now let’s drop the knife. Every human was a real man, a flesh and blood, a man of black passion such as we are. What do you think would do his mind that night as he laid there sleeping? What would you be thinking about? Tomorrow, I’ve got to take my son’s life. But he vio-says that he believed that if he did it, God would raise him from the dead and he believed God so much he was willing.

To run that risk. To do that. Because if we God, God can have anybody worshiping anything or anyone more than God. You see, the things that we have can become idle that we worship. And God did a jealous God. God doesn’t like anything to take his place. I’ve seen God working people’s lives. and move things out of people’s lives. Scared me to death. God doesn’t play games. God loves us, but whenever he took his son upon the mountain and he laid him out on that rock and he got ready to take a knife and to cut his son to kill him.

What did God do? God stayed his hand and says, there is a ram whose horn were caught in the thick. and God substituted. But I want you to see this verse. Look down in verse 12. And he said, lay not by hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fears God. Seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, line only Son from me.” Now there’s a lot in that verse. One doesn’t God know everything?

Does God have to do that in order to know something? You know even when you get to the New Testament when Jesus Christ was born the Bible says He learned and He grew in statute and wisdom. The Bible talks about Jesus in the garden and that he feared even under death. He got to the woman at the well and he thirsted. There were things that he had to learn at one point he says only the father knows the son doesn’t know but that was at that time I believe he knows all about.

And for God to say I want to prove See, God wants things proven. God can know everything, but He wants us to go through the… Does God already know what we’re going to face tomorrow? Yes. Does He know what we need? Yes. Does He want us to pray though? Yes. He still wants us to come to Him, still wants us to pray, even though He knows He out, come on everything. But God is God. And He has a right to do anything He wants to do.

But one thing he doesn’t want is somebody loving somebody more than him. I love my wife, but I’m not supposed to love my wife more than I love God. Because if I do, I won’t love God right, and I won’t love my wife right. Loving God supremely, preeminently, you’ll love everything else right. And everything else will fall into place. But you don’t love God right. You won’t really love the way you should. What would my wife need more than anything else?

If I said, I’d love you more than God. What does she need? She needs to know that I love God with all my heart. Do you know there’s a commandment in the Bible that says, love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and mind, body, soul, and strength? Yes or no? Yes. Well, all my heart. And get what he says here. He says, now I know that thou fear’s gone. What was God after then? God wanted Abraham to fear him, to honor Him, to love Him, to worship Him more than anything.

And the way of proving that is are you willing to give up that what you love? Do you love God? Are you willing to prove it? Do you know one of the greatest things you can give to God to prove that you love God is by giving Him your life? It’s the same as taking your life, sacrificing your life for Him. That’s why when you serve the Lord, you’ve given up your right to do whatever you want to do down here for these things.

And you give it up and Lord you can take and let me be as rich or as poor as whatever it doesn’t matter. And it’s the blessed thing to possess nothing. Because you know that if God has me and all of me, then God will take care of me. and I don’t have to hold anything God can give me whatever he wants and take free whatever I have. It’s God at liberty to take your help without you getting upset with God.

It’s God at liberty to take your job, take your finances, without you getting upset with God. Or what would you do if God took these things away from you? What do you love more? Those things are God. Do you think that at times in your life God’s going to try you to find out what you really love? He’s going to, you might as well prepare yourself, you should be expecting it. Expect a baby, that’s the real thing. And the Bible says that troubles are like arrows that are shot into the air.

And see, there’s arrows that are been shot. These arrows are troubles. And here you are. And these arrows, and you are have an appointment and they’re coming sometime in the future. might be tomorrow morning, but buddy troubles on its way. But what God does is he tries to teach you some things so that when the fiery darts come, you can be shielded and protected. But if you don’t trust the Lord and you don’t look to God, these troubles are going to hit and you’re not going to be prepared and it’s going to be devastating for you.

And you’ll get mad and bitter and you’ll hate God. And it wasn’t God’s fault See God had given us free all things to enjoy But they’re not to be our God they’re not to be idols for us The Lord Being jealous once our love and once it supremely And he says I love this part. He says now. I know that thou hear his God Seeing thou has not withheld by sundine only son from you to keep him from me You willing to give it all to possess?

Nothing. And if God gives you a home, praise the Lord. It’s God’s. God gives you aWAYS. It’s God’s. God gives you finesse. It’s God’s. Let everything that you have belong to God. And you’re only a steward using those things, why you’re here? Because they’re just things. You understand what I’m////////? I hope you can understand it. Let me read a little poem for you. Always like a three-point outlancer and then a poem. And I read just not really like this poem.

Father, I want to know thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding. Now I do not try to hide from thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things, which I have cherished so long, and which have become a very part of my living self, so that thou mayest enter and dwell there without arrival. Then shall thou make the place of thy feet glorious.

shall my heart have no need of the Son to shine in it, for thyself will be the light of it, and there shall be no night there.” In Jesus’ name, amen. And a good one. It’s a good prayer. Let’s pray, Shai’an. 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. 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 we’ll close your thoughts 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 us until 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.

Having a copy of the scriptures is one of the greatest things you could ever have. I was gonna say one of the greatest possessions you could ever have. But the title of my sermon is the blessedness of possessing nothing. You ever thought about that? The blessedness of possessing nothing. You may use a lot of things, but don’t seek to possess everything or many things. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5, that’s the first book in the New Testament.

Matthew and chapter 5. Jesus Christ is on the mount and this is what we call the sermon on the mount. And there’s many things that he says here. But the first thing he talks about when he says in these beatitudes, the blessed bees, he says in verse three, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the poor poor. Now, you might not think it’s good to be poor, but you know, some of the poorest people are the happiest people.

And some of the most miserable people are the richest people. You say, well, I like to find out. Well, you may and you may not. I never tried to keep up with the Joneses. I just catch them on their way back because people are changing positions in life. They’re going up and they’re going down. They’re getting it and they’re losing it because every man that’s getting it is getting it from somebody else. And every man that’s losing it is losing it to somebody else.

So you’re gaining and losing and somebody’s gaining and losing. So you’re going through life, swapping, you’re switching places and you’re gaining somebody else’s losing. Everybody can’t always gain. Somebody has to lose something for one man to gain. You ever think of that? That’s the facts of life. If I gave everybody in here equally $100 and that’s all the money that was in the whole world and all of us only had $100, now if you’re going to gain some money, somebody had to do what?

They had to lose them. True? So in your desire to get more than what you probably need, somebody else is going to have to do with less until we have some rich and we have some poor. Which ones you like to be? Don’t answer that. But God says blessed are the poor and blessed are those that are persecuted and blessed are those who thirst after righteousness and blessed are those who hunger and he goes on all these wonderful blessings.

You say, well, wait, wait, wait, wait, not so fast, Lord. But that’s what the book says. Because there’s something else, as the Bible says in the book of Corinthians, though poor, making many rich. Did you know a poor man can make a lot of people rich? The Bible tells us that God sent his son who owned it all. And the Bible says, and he became poor that we through his poverty might become rich. So if you know Christ is your Savior, you’re rich.

You’re a wealthy individual because you know where you’re going today. You’re God’s child and it won’t be long before we’re going to be going home. That used to be six kids in our family. Now there’s only five left. I used to have a mom. My mom was gone. I used to have a real bad and he’s gone. I have another stepdad, he’s gone. There’s people leaving this world. I was talking to Buddy while ago. It’s amazing how his time goes on.

We get to see people go into more funerals. The only you get, the more funerals you attend. And after a while, I guess one, I talked to this one real old man. I said, what’s the man? He said, I just don’t have no friends. I said, why? He says, I’d bear them all. I said, they all died. I said, I don’t have no friends. Oh, my friends did. Well that they may come for you and I will be sitting right here.

You know, I’m the only one to last and Leon is gonna be on crutches and maybe a wheelchair and I’ll be pushing him around, you know, but It was amazing. I went to the flea market yesterday and out of a whole the place my eye caught a wheelchair Now looked at it. I thought about my mom’s son’s. That’s all the wheelchair And then Chris will come by and she says I’m looking for a wheelchair. I said well I know where there’s one Where I says right over there says the guy over here got one she went over and bought the thing yesterday And it was a nice one got a good price for it, and I says just save it.

That says buddy’s gonna need it You know Lord is simply preparing For your needs in advance now, let me ask you a question How many of you in here have had children? You’ve had a child. Alright, one, two, three, four, five, six, six, six or seven. Okay, you’re going to have one. And whenever a child is going to be coming to work, like his man says, the woman says, she says, I’m expecting. He says, expecting nothing. This is sure thing.

I don’t know why all the women says, I’m expecting. Where are you expecting? Well, I’m expecting to have a baby. This is sure thing. You’re not. But anyway, you’re going to have a baby. I remember when Eddie was going to have his little boy. Did you know that they went out and that man, they bought all kinds of stuff. They painted the room and Eddie is his hat child and well maybe more child than adult. And he had all the stuff of that stupid cat.

What’s the name of that stupid cat? There was some little stupid cat, but he even got a tattoo on his arm. He put it on the wall and the crazy colors got the crib and they got diapers. Then they had a baby shower and everybody brought everything. I’ll kind of junk. They were getting ready, preparing for the special. When this baby shows up, they got everything they need for the baby. They had baby bottles. Like I said, they had that green junk that they make your baby see.

It’s already like a bed eaten once. But they got a bunch of baby foods, you know, and spinach. I guess the kids need that junk. But they got all this stuff and you go all this stuff. They even had little pants, shirts, and little shoes, and little socks, even a little hat, and all this stuff. And the baby’s not even there yet. All these were things for this baby, because this baby is going to need all this stuff. And you think, well, that’s only reasonable.

That’s prepared. That’s prepared because the baby is coming. Well, did you know that sometime in the past God, it kind of right along with this for a little bit. God’s up in heaven and all he has up there is all these angels. And God wants somebody to love him. Not because he made you love him, but because he wants you to choose to love him. Would you like the person that you like to love you because he has no choice?

Kind of like Adam and Eve. Even looked at Adam and says, do you love me? He says, who else? You don’t get it. Who else? There ain’t nobody else. Well, you want somebody to love you because they had a choice. But here we are in this world and God made us. But he wants us to love him because we love him, because we choose to love him. So what God did is God was expecting. He was expecting some real genuine things to happen.

Before God made the heavens in the earth. Do you think he already had planned? He was going to make a man and a woman? Before he made the world. The Bible says that God had already planned on sinning His Son to pay for our sins before the foundations of the world. That means before man was ever made and put into the garden, God already knew he was full and God already had a plan. It wasn’t like, oh no, now what am I going to do?

God was not in a state of shock because, oh no, they sin. Now what do I do? Now God already knew it before he ever started. He had a gigantic plan. So what God did when he made the earth, he didn’t make the earth for God. He didn’t make the clouds. You know, I used to lay out there on the grass and I would look up in the sky. Me and Lizzie and they used to do that. And we’d watch the clouds go and we’d try to make something out of the clouds.

So what that looks like an elephant, and that looks like a dog. That looks like you. And the wind would blow and the cloud would change shape. And we would try to make something out of it. never do that but I did that when I was a kid that was a whole new world and I lived in a little make-believe world there was a time when I actually believed in this and I had to learn but you know what I didn’t want to hurt Lizzie’s feelings but see God made the world did you know that God says now I’m making this world special they know the world like this world I’m making this for the person that I’m expecting.

I’m going to take and do something special. And God knew what we would like. And so he knew we would have to see all this. So he says, He that hath an eye, shall he not see? And he that hath an ear, shall he not hear? And God made the eye, God made the ear. So he made a man. And the Bible says that God prepared everything in advance before we ever got the God was expecting. And he knew exactly when we were going to arrive.

And God was going to see to it. He had everything ready, didn’t he? So he made the world. And the Bible says at the beginning it was, you know, it was water covered with water. And when God says, and God said, let there be light, and it was good. And so God separated the day from the night. And then he separated the land from the water. And God did all these wonderful things. Then he made the trees. And then all of a sudden there’s fruits on the trees.

And then he made the greater light, the sun and the lesser light, the moon. The one the rule of the day and one the rule of the night. God made the starry heavens and all that. God did all that. Why? He don’t need all that. He did all that. That’s all these gifts for us. Just like anyone’s getting all those things for that little child. See, any day in the old man, the baby needs all of that. And so because of your love for our child, you do all these wonderful things.

And because of your God’s love for us, He did all these wonderful things for us. And the Bible says that the animals and the grass and the flowers, everything. God did all of that and God provided totally in advance for all of our needs. That’s why we say, can God supply your needs? He already has before He puts you here. Before you were born, all of your needs to survive have been provided. True?

Now, some people have to work and get it not just like God. He says he made the Word and he made the worm, but he doesn’t throw the worm into the nest. He makes the bird go find the worm. And God made us and he has done, I think, a very, very good job. God knew what he was doing. He made all these wonderful things. And then the Bible says that all these things, and then when you read the book of Genesis and talked about all these creeping things and every thing, but they’re just things.

What is more important? The baby crib or the baby? What’s more important? The baby’s milk and the food or the baby? What’s more important? The baby or the diapers? Alright. If you can understand that little simple thing, here you are in this world. And God made all this wonderful thing. He made all the animals. He made the planets and the starry heavens and he made the earth and he made the clouds and the rain and the flowers and the trees and all this wonderful sunset that we enjoyed, the sunrise, some people don’t even know the sun comes up gradually.

But God made all these wonderful things and lowered me home. What do you think is more important? The person that God did it for or the things that he made? The person you are more important than the things that he gave to you. To those that are just things. They’re temporary things. But the shame of it all is if what if… You and I were to make the biggest, dumbest, stupid, foolish mistake of falling in love with the things instead of the one that loves us.

Did you know that there are people in this world that don’t love the one that made them and gave them all that? They reject Him and thought I love with this. And why did God make us so that we would love Him? So God is not satisfied when we love people or things or the world more than we love God. Wouldn’t it be a shame for a family to do so much for a little baby? and they shower this little baby with all kind of things.

You know, they love this little baby. And then the little baby grows up and despises the mom and dad that gave them so much and did so much for them. And then they despise them. You think it would hurt. Think it hurts. Well, of course it does. Do you think that God is hurt when we don’t love Him and we love things more? You know, there’s people who don’t worry about if they never spend any time with God, but if you don’t come around and give many attention, they get mad and pout and pine and moan and groan.

Well, take your Bible and turn to the book of Romans in chapter 1. Romans and chapter 1. There’s a scripture there. I’ve used it in different ways, but I want to relate something else to you look there in verse 21 First 21 Romans chapter 1 Here you are in this wonderful world that God has made and God spent some time Preparing everything for us because he loves us. I can’t explain why he loves us, but he does He made us in his image.

He made us because he wants us and he loves us and And he prepared so many things for us to freely enjoy, but there are many things. They’re just things. This world is just a thing. It’s not a person. And so it says here in verse 21, because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. So what is the key? And if you know there’s a God, it is accepted, expected that you would glorify Him as God.

Don’t you see that? You look at that person and say, if that ain’t what you see, that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. In other words, it was an expectation that they should have. If God has done so much for you, isn’t it only reasonable for God to expect? You do be thankful? Huh? Look what it says. Neither were what? Neither were thankful. Alright, so God expects you to glorify Him because He’s God. Look what He did for you.

Remember, there’s no person ever been born on this earth before you have to do this greater than you. I’m not talking about Jesus Christ now. I’m talking about humanly speaking. And And God doesn’t love anybody more than you, doesn’t love anybody less than you. God’s a lovely world, and you and I are in the world. And because of God’s great love for us, isn’t it, Shane, that we sometimes fall in love with the things that he made, like a little baby, growing up and falling in love with a tricycle and hating mom and dad.

They gave him the tricycle because they love him. That makes sense doesn’t it? And when God has been so good to us, this need to shame even for a Christian? After God has saved him, given me eternal life, not to serve the Lord. Don’t you think that’s a slap in God’s face, not to honor God? Now get what he says here. Several things. It says they became vain, and in verse 12, became fools. The same ones that God loved did so much for him, instead of them being so thankful for these things that God gave to him to enjoy for his happiness, for pleasure, for true enjoyment in life.

They don’t love God. They gave it to him. And all God wanted, this is just to show how much God loves us. And we won’t let him back for it. And God says that you become vain in your imagination and you became fools. So everyone who is not glorifying God what they’re like, giving God glory for what he did. And giving God thanks to what he’s done. The Bible says, being unthankful, they become fools.

We’re gonna be ashamed for you to be listed in this portion of the script. This is talking about you. Their foolish heart was darkened. Look in verse 25, and change the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like a corruptible man. In other words, they wind up worshiping the creation Instead of God, the Creator. If you’re to hear anybody talk about mother nature, it’s not nice to be cruel to mother nature. Well, oh yeah. Nature is not my mother.

I don’t believe in evolution. And the other thing in verse 24, wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness to the lust of their own hearts to and get this honor themselves. So they become vain in their imagination, And they become bold and they dishonor themselves and they don’t bring honor to God. They don’t bring honor to themselves. And then in the next verse it says they change the truth of God into a what? and they don’t bring honor to God, they don’t bring honor to themselves.

And then in the next version, they change the truth of God into a life. And then for the rest of their life, they live a life. Let me know the shame. That’s not how God intended it Because we make so many foolish decisions with our life instead of seeking the will of God Do you know what God wanted more than anything after he created Adam and Eve? They said the Bible said that he walked with him and talked with him in the cool of the evening in the garden of Eve He made a beautiful garden for them.

Why? How’s he love them? What was more important the man and the woman or the garden? The guard was made for them That’s why God did it. God did all those things for them. Now listen, God hasn’t stopped. The thing that he made then is still now, it’s just not in this perfect form, but didn’t God still give us air to breathe? Ah, I don’t feel good to breathe. Don’t you enjoy eating? I will not eat today and I ate.

Oh, it is. So I enjoy food. I think that’s one of the greatest inventions of all time. Who I love thee my problem is is not even so much And that looks like it might be somebody else’s problem too, but I am not talking about who it is But everybody deals with the problem of overeating I hate it when Milton Hale can sit down and eat ten meals a day and Gorge on everyone and not gain an ounce That’s not fair Gina look at Gina I’ve been She’s…

She’ll never be fat. She’ll never have to worry about being fat. And probably, you know, look at her. She’ll never look at her and probably look at her all over her life. And there’s others who struggle with it, and they can’t even look at a doughnut without getting a pound. Just look at that. And Gina, but Robin can eat a whole dozen of them, and it won’t bother. Because her mother and her sisters, they’re all the same. It runs in the family.

That’s not fair. But somebody told me that life isn’t fair. Well, I guess not. But you see, what I’m saying is, is that you begin to change things. When you’re not glorifying the Lord with your life and you’re not thankful to God, you become vain in your imagination. You won’t think right. You become a fool, but you won’t think you’re fool. You’ll think you’re wise. You’ll think you’re smart. And you’ll begin to make your own decisions and about everything.

You don’t need God. You don’t need to read the Bible. You don’t need to go to church. You know what you’re saying? I’m too smart for all of that. That means you’re dumb. Just the way a dumb man thinks. I don’t need God to tell me what I can and cannot do. Now take your Bible and turn back there to the Old Testament to the book of Genesis chapter 22. Genesis and chapter 22. He knows the story of Abraham and Isaac.

Remember Abraham was an old man. He was about right at 100 years old when his child was born. He was 100 years old. His wife was 90 when she had a baby. Good night. I don’t believe God ever intended for the normal individual to have kids when they’re 100 years old. I don’t have the patience for them. I love to see them come love the same bill. Grandkids is the rewards for not killing your teenagers when you had a chance.

But it is it is so wonderful. My grandkids if I knew this I’d have had them first. But don’t work that way. But the Bible says that God loved the man and this man’s name was Abraham. God was going to do something different with this man. He’s going to take a man and buy a man. a miracle give him a child in his old age. And so the Bible says that Sarah was past the age of childbearing and that her womb was dead so the space she couldn’t have any children.

So God’s gonna have to work a miracle and work a miracle he did and a child was born. But you see before this child was born, so God already prepared, gave him a wonderful Dad and Mom. So that when this kid is born, he’s going to have a tremendous father. This is going to be a exceptional child. If this child is going to be the father of a great nation, and so from him, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and he had 12 sons and brothers, the nation of Israel, and the whole world has been blessed because of the nation of Israel.

We don’t know all the way back to to old father Abraham. Well, as time goes on, the child is born. I can imagine watching old Abraham outside the tent. He’s already been gone for 13 years with Ishmael, but this was his own. This is the one that God says that he’s gonna blast. This is gonna be his heir. This one was special. So time did Tom where they came trouble between Hagar and Sarah and so on. She had to leave and take Ishmael with her, so they left.

But this child was different. This is a miracle child. Abraham knew it. For some reason, rather, he really loved this child. Look up there in verse 2. And God speaking to Abraham, and he said, Heconservancy by Son, Thy only Son, Isaac, and you ought to underline these three words. Humb thou loveth. You see, there’s a God in heaven that so loved man that he was willing to make for us anything we would have ever desired. Who in the world today doesn’t desire the Garden of Eden?

To live forever and to be in the Garden of Eden. Everybody wishes that. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, with DrReturns. 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.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 Cal Rove Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 3363. 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, calgaryoftampa.org.

Thanks 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 to all the 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 stone free. 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 concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family. God has given us that which we should have been able to shape the world. We haven’t done the thing. The reason because majority of most Christians are playing cold. They’re not hot.

They’re not loot warm. They’re dead. Most Christians are just dead. There’s no life. They’re not positive. They have no concern. They seem like they really don’t care. When he makes the statement here in verse 28, whom we preach, warning every man, teaching every man and all wisdom that we may present every man maturing Jesus Christ. So it’s not just a matter of winning somebody to the Lord. is getting a person to where we can present every person maturing Christ.

And you know what? And you can’t make anybody mature. You can’t make them grow strong in the Lord. You can’t do it. So anyway, these are some tremendous verses. Now, in the book of Ephesians, turn to your left to the book of Ephesians in chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3. In Ephesians chapter 3, the apostle Paul explaining to the church there because He says there’s Christ is the head of the church and there’s the body. We’re here we have an awful lot about the body of believers in the Ephesians.

In the book of Colossians we have a lot about the head. That’s Christ, head of the body. So Colossians you study about the head. In the book of Ephesians you study about the body. And the body can do nothing without the head. And most times we’re like people running around with a body without a head on them. nobody to tell us what to do because we don’t listen. And if Egypt chapter three, look in verse two. If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, this is the dispensation, this period of time right here.

This is the stewardship of revealing certain new truths to the body of believers. And our mission is totally different than what God gave to Israel or to Gabe to Noah, back in Adam’s time. God never told Adam to build a boat. He didn’t tell him to go down into Egypt, tell him, Moses, I mean, to failure. That wasn’t his job. God has given us a particular job, a special job, an awesome job. We have the glorious gospel, the greatest message in all the world.

And our job is to see that people come to know Christ, support and missionary, build them a strong body of believers so people will stay a strong steadfast. Sometimes I wonder don’t people want or maybe it’s because there’s just simply too many churches around and if anybody gets ticked off in one thing because of one part they just go to this church or go to that church or go to that it doesn’t matter because there’s thousands of churches. Do you know there’s some places in this world that don’t even have a preacher don’t even have a missionary.

I remember reading one time about David Livingston and he says when he went down into Africa, he says there’s a thousand campfires without a witness. He says I stood on one hill and saw a thousand campfires and not one missionary. All these campfires represented little tribes of people and he says they have no missionary and he gave himself as a missionary to go and reach those people. I read about William care is a missionary that went down into India because the same thing and and how that Hudson Taylor he went to China and started the inland China missions and people that just gave their lives because they saw things differently they they didn’t have a witness.

Today there’s so many churches nobody cares you know you can go anywhere do anything believe whatever you want to believe. Find a church that believes what you believe and that’s where you go instead of finding church that teaches the book, stands for the book and don’t bend on it. It’s like it doesn’t matter anymore. I believe everything matters. But here in Ephesians in chapter 3, look what he says, if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given to me toward you, How that by revelation he hath made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote it for in a few words, whereby when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which get this now, same thing we read over in the cross, which another ages was not made known unto the sons of men.

As it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit that the Gentile, now here’s the secret, this truth, that the Gentiles might be fellow heirs with the Jews. and of the same body in partakers of his promise in Christ by the what? By the gospel. You notice in every one of these things it’s always the gospel because that’s the key to everything and this is why some people if the devil can get working on somebody’s mind they always hear that.

I get sick and tired of hearing that gospel. I get sick and tired of hearing that, seeing that in hand illustration or the, uh, uh, here John through 16. I want more. You see it’s not that you want more is that you’re supposed to be doing more with that simple little thing that you already know, but if you don’t do something with what you already know, you don’t need nothing else. You’re not doing this with what you’re supposed to be doing.

You’ve got this, the greatest message. And then sometimes we never give it, never share it. And yet we expect everything else, just make me big in fact Christian. It won’t come that way. It always comes back to this. And he makes a statement here in verse 7, whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God, given unto me, by the effectual working of His power. Unto me who am blessed in the least of all saints, is this grace given.

In other words, he said, I don’t deserve what God’s done for me. He said, I am an example of how that God can save a man after everything that I’ve done. If God can save me, God can save anybody. And this is why he says in Timothy that I am the chief of sinners because if God can save the Apostle Paul and everything that Paul was guilty of, even murder, and God saved him and used him as an example of what God can do for anybody else.

And so he says, God did this for me. I don’t deserve this. I’m the least of all the saints that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Truths that the world cannot know if they don’t come from this book. I know knowledge. I’ve got truth and there’s power in knowledge, true knowledge. They can change a man’s destiny, revolutionize a person’s life. This truth, I know it and you know it. And we’re supposed to let this thing so motivate us and challenge us that we want to reach other people with the same knowledge.

And if you go down here to verse 11 and he says, according to the eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. So if God had, now look up here, if God did all of this and God has this in here, and this is where we are, is this part of God’s eternal purpose? Does God have something special for us, evidently so? And we’re part of this eternal plan, and you may not see it and understand all of it, but while we’re here we have a responsibility.

Now what I want you to do is turn over there in your Bible to the book of Revelation. Revelation, and chapter 1, always told to draw the hat. If you can draw a hat, you can teach prophecy. How many of you in here can draw that? You can teach prophecy. See, all you’ve got to do is put the cross here, see anything else? Where’s the Ratcher? Where’s the Revelation of Christ coming back to the earth? Where’s the seven-year tribulation?

Judgment’s seed of Christ, marriage’s supper of the Lamb, kingdom upon the earth. See how easy that was? All you gotta do is draw a hat. You draw a hat and you can teach prophecy. See how difficult it is to understand the Bible. It’s so hard. It is not hard. Now, what I wanted to show you is that the book of Revelation, here we go. There’s the rapture, there’s that seven years. I spread this out a little bit in here, but in chapter one and two, you’ve got in here, chapter one I should say.

And then you’ve got the other verses that go in here, two and three. You got chapter 4 of Revelation. Right there. And then you got all the way from chapter five through chapter 19 right here. Christ comes back. In chapter 20 to the end of the book. So is Revelation laid out in the Bible? Totally laid out. Piece of cake. So you read the book of Revelation. You know that chapter one is what thou hast seen. Chapter two and three deals with the church.

age. This is where we are. Now some believe this and it may be true and there’s a good possibility it may be. But in this period of time which has lasted almost 2,000 years. In these 2,000 years if we was to say break it down like this, you’d have 1, 2, 3, 4, Five, six, seven. Is that how simple it is? When you read in there about the seven churches, the seven churches evidently would be doing the what period of time, the church age, right?

If you’re doing the church age. Because he says, write the things that thou has seen, the things which are, and then the things which shall be here after, after the church age. So when you read these, it’s breaking down the history of the last 2000 years and the different church, the church at Laodicea, the church at Smyrna, the Tharathara, Pergamos and so forth, and Philadelphia right on down the line, Laodicea. And we have ourselves the seven churches in order, bringing it all the way down.

Now take your Bible and look there in Revelation, in chapter 1 and verse 4, where it says, John to the seven churches, which are in Asia. Grace be unto you and peace from him, which was, which is to come. And from the seven spirits which are before his throne. Now I want you to jump down there to verse 7. Behold, he cometh with clouds. Every eye shall see him. They also which pierced him and all kindred of the year shall wail because of him.

Even so, amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending saith the Lord, which was, which is to come the Almighty. So the one that is going to come is God Almighty. I was talking to a Jehovah’s Witness one time and he told me, says, you can’t show in the Bible where Jesus was the Almighty. He always referred to Jehovah. And so I got him committed to it and he said, yeah, that’s right. And I told him, and I showed him a verse where the Bible says, Jehovah, God is God, the mighty God.

And I showed him this verse where Jesus is all mighty God. Blue is little man. But here the Bible talks about these seven churches. So in chapter two, it talks about the church at Ephesus, first one. Down in verse 8 the church at Smyrna. Then it talks about in verse 12 the church at Pergamos. Verse 18 the church at Thyra-Thyra. Chapter 3 verse 1 the church at Sardis and then verse 7 the church at Philadelphia. And then in verse 14 the church at Laodicea.

Now this is the last one. This is the one I want to talk to you about because I believe in all of these different churches. This is where we are. And there’s a good possibility this is a description of the condition of the churches today, look at verse 14. And unto the angel or the messenger, pastor of the Church of the Laodicean’s right. These things say, if the Amen, the faithful and true witness. This is similar to what we read over in the book of Colossians just a while ago.

The beginning and of the creation of God, the beginning means he is the architect of creation. Remember he says, there was nothing before him and everything came after him and consist because of him. He is the architect of all the universe of heaven, of the earth, of people, and God planned the ages. Isn’t it amazing that you’re just happened to be seven churches? It wasn’t five, it wasn’t four, it’s always seven. Seven is the number of perfection. They had just happened to be seven dispensations, just happens to be coincident.

I don’t think so. God is very systematic in what He does. Now get what He says here from the creation of God, not evolution. Verse 15. He says, I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot, I would thou art cold or hot. So then because thou art a lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. What he’s talking about is these are examples of various churches down through time. And the candle is the light that that church gives forth.

And God says, I know thy works, but unless you repent and get things corrected, I’m going to remove the candlestick. It means I’m going to turn out the light. And I believe that there’s a possibility that God may write Ichabod over a church. And once it’s done, there’s nothing you’re going to do about it. It simply means the glory of the Lord is departed. This was what was said about the Shukonah glory in the Old Testament when they saw the cloud descending and leaving the tabernacle.

The glory of the Lord is departed. It means that God no longer had his presence there. So here it makes the statement, I would daward cold or hot. So in verse 16, so then because I would lukewarm and neither cold or hot, I will spew the out of my mouth. Let me ask you a question. Don’t think about it in light of just yourself. But as a whole, how would you view the church? Hot, cold, or lukewarm? If the church collectively represented one of these, is it hot?

Is it cold? Is it lukewarm? He says, in every one of these that I will remove thy candlestick out of its place. Now we know this. The church is that even the apostles started in the first century. They’re all gone. All these churches that actually existed in Asia Minor no longer exist. They’re all gone. But this church is gone. That church is gone. Now as we looked at our church today, does if you said hot, is that because you are?

Is it cold? Is it because you are? Is our church lukewarm? Is it because you are? Now forget the church which one represents you. Think about it. Are you hot? Cold lukewarm. And which is the one that makes God sick, nauseated at a stomach, being lukewarm. What is lukewarm? What is lukewarm? It’s like cold coffee to me. But every church in America has a picture in the eyes of God, is either hot, cold, or lukewarm. It makes a difference on why a church will thrive, thrive, I guess, or God will be turning out the lights.

I believe that this is a good possibility. In America, the church is that are growing. Most of them are simply growing because, for example, here’s a church. Here’s a church. Here’s a church. Here’s a church. There’s a church. There’s a church. There’s a church is everywhere. But if something sparks them right here, ten will leave here, ten will leave there, ten will leave here, ten will leave here, ten will leave here and ten will leave here. And all of a sudden, this church is really growing, boy it’s booming.

They must really be doing something right. Why? Because ten people left this church. They must be doing something wrong. 10 left this church. They didn’t win these people to the Lord. They just simply swapped them from somebody else’s goldfish bowls. That’s not growing the church. We’re not growing. If all of a sudden 50 people from us, some of the church came into our church, but we’re not growing. We’re growing when we read and catch our own fish. When we catch our fish and we get our fish in here and we can grow our own, then we’re growing a church.

But when you just switch around people from one church to another church, you haven’t done nothing. All you’ve done maybe is cut this church in half, that church in half, this church in half. And all of a sudden here’s all these people that went to all these different churches. And that’s why that one goes out, that one goes out, that one goes out, that one goes out. Now we got one huge, mongous church. And after all that will arrive because the people that kill these will kill that one.

about a time. I’ve been doing this a long time. I know what goes on. The key thing is individually because you cannot make somebody do anything. I have talked to the Lord. I’ve wondered why, why don’t people care about the things that I’m teaching? I know that what I teach is biblical truth. And if a person wants to know and understand the Bible, I can teach and clearly explain what the Bible says. Almost anything in it. But I want you to see.

He makes a statement here in verse 20. Verse 20 is not, I’m standing at your heart’s door and I want to come in and save you. This is many times misuse because people use it for salvation. You know Christ is knocking at your heart’s door and you got to open your heart so he can come in and save you. This has nothing to do with salvation. Look at verse 20. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man here my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me.

See, this verse isn’t talking about salvation. This verse is talking about you and God in fellowship together. This verse has to deal with, I’ll just write this up here, zeal. Psalm 69 verse 9, it says, the zeal of the Lord had eaten me up. It’s a reference to when Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is going to come and he goes to the temple and he sees what the money changes that turned his house of prayer into and made it a benefit.

And he sees the meal of the Lord, eating me up, it’s eating at me so bad to see that which is holy, been so desecrated because people don’t understand what’s going on. And that’s when he got angry and he took the cords and he beat the people and turned over the tables and taste them all out of that. Remember the story? It’s mentioned also in the gospel of John in chapter 2, where it says, the zeal of the Lord.

The zeal of the Lord. That zeal is the fire of God. And do you as an individual have some fire left. Now, when he makes this statement here, behold, I stand at the door and not. It’s no longer so much as to the church. But to a hand pick individuals throughout the world that maybe the church will never do it, but God will have to pick some individual. And he says to those individuals in that church looking for some individual, some man, some woman, somewhere that maybe collectively the church it will never be, but an individual.

God said, I want to fellowship with you. Well, there be faith when the Lord returns. Well, people be doing that which God wants them to do when the Lord returns. Will you be found faithful? Now, I want you to see up there in verse 19. As many, it’s just verse 19, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasing. There’s a lot of times when I’ve arrived seeing people and because I love them, I chasing them. I rebuke. I say, no.

The guys that come out on the ball team, I rebuke them quickly and firmly, strongly sometimes. So what do I do? They call that love them because I care about them. If I know you’re supposed to be doing something and you don’t do it, I will tell you that I think this is what God wants you to do. You can do whatever you want to I’m gonna tell I want to warn I want to preach what I believe the Bible T Why because God says because I love you I do this to you and because I love people I will tell people what I believe is the truth for them and it doesn’t matter how they think about me it hurts But this means more to me because I want people to be right one of these days.

It’s all Over opportunities are gone. We’re gonna leave this world. We’re gonna be with the Lord it could happen at any moment moment. We’re not back there. We’re not back there. We’re not there. We’re not there. We’re right here. And I believe it’s a description of the church time in which we live. So he says in verse 19, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten be and hear that word zealous. And I want you to line it in your Bible and write the word be excited.

Hot. He said, I would that you were hot or cold, but Luke one makes me sick. But being on fire for God means being zealous for God. Having a zeal for the things of God. I’ve watched people that have been here for a while and they get a zeal for doing things for God. And I’ve watched that same zeal that was a fire burn out and they don’t wanna do that no more. So he says in verse 20, I stand at the door and I knock.

And I believe that God wants to have fellowship and with anybody that has some zeal that wants to do something. And individually God’s going to take a person and raise them up and God can do great and wonderful things for them. I believe that we’re living right here at the last period of time. And then when you look here in chapter 4, it says, after this I looked. Behold, a door was what? Opened in heaven. First voice which I heard was as it were a trumpet talking with me which says, do what?

Come up, hitter. And I’ll show you the thing which must be hereafter. So this ends a period of time. Now there’s something new that’s going to happen and we’re going to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And this is where we are and we’ve gone through all of these seven different periods of time. God’s the one that lays all of this stuff out. I think it’s awesome. I really do. But what I want you to do is I want you to do like it says in the Psalms where he says, search me, O Lord, and see if there be any wicked way in me.

Is there something or reason why God is not going to bless me or our church? because I believe that there’s something that could keep us from really experiencing tremendous things. And the thing that bothered me is this, I can visit knock on doors, send out letters, make phone calls, everything that a preacher can then know to do, to know avail, to know avail. I’ve said it bus routes and lost them, started ranch and lose them, you name it, I’ve done it.

And for some reason, it’s like there’s something that I can’t put my hand on. If I knew how to be more godly, I’d do that. If I knew how to be more obedient, I’d do that. God knows my heart. I am willing to do or be anything that He wants. But there’s still something, and I don’t know what it is, but God does. God does. And I believe that sooner or later, something’s going to happen, all of a sudden we’re going to start being blessed, or God’s going to turn out our lights altogether.

Don’t you feel that way? Don’t you feel like God is fixing to just really bless us or close us down? But I believe we need to be found faithful to doing what’s right. Some things are out of our control. I can’t control some things. But I do believe that there’s a God behind the scenes that sees and works. It’s like God says, I know that works. I see thy people. But I have somewhat against you. I know what that is.

I believe there’s something that hasn’t been taken care of yet. And I hope that we find out what it is. But I want you to be praying about that. Let’s pray, shall we? We’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 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 Bible Live and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. God 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 regular and the Internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. which is 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 over to your Bible to the book of Hebrews chapter 11 Hebrews and chapter 11. Several things that I have mentioned to you before but repetition is like theological mucilage. It’s like throwing mud on the wall. You throw the moor’s gonna stick and you repeat and then add a little bit and repeat add a little bit and that’s how people learn the Bible. The Bible says here a little there a little that’s why too much like the Bible says blinds a person You can’t give a person too much truth at one time or blinds if they don’t see anything So little by little I want you look there in verse one of Hebrews chapter 11 Says now faith is the substance of things hoped for in other words That’s all you have in this world that you believe God is your faith But faith is not something that’s not real

Faith is as real as this Bible. It’s as real as this microphone. This is real as that fan. Faith is a substance that only God can see, but that faith that you have can produce something. Faith in Christ got you eternal life, so it’s not blind faith. It’s faith in facts. If God says something and you believe it, that’s faith in the facts, not blind faith. That’s truth. It’s whenever you believe something that there is no basis for the belief.

That’s blind faith. So those who believe the Bible is not like, well, we got blind faith. No, it’s not blind. I’m not trusting God blindly. I’ve got evidence. I’ve got some proof, something to build upon. So he says, the evidence of things not saying, the evidence that I’ve got or not things that you can see, but there’s still evidence. I could use the things of the world to say, I believe there’s a God. And the world that I do see is the evidence for my belief in that which I cannot see.

But there’s many things that I cannot see, but it’s the evidences of my faith. and why I have done what I’ve done with my life and why I want to serve a Lord and why I want to go to church, why I want to read the Bible, why I want to be faithful. And so the knowledge of the Word of God is what causes a person to be faithful down to time. And the Bible says this in the book of Matthew.

It says that when Christ returned, will he find faith? Will there be faith upon the year? Will people still be trusting the Lord and living by faith? Evidently he says it’s going to get so bad that majority of people are not going to really live by faith. Many people, they go to church, but just out of duty. They don’t go because they’re strong, calmness in the Lord that is the right in the doing. I do it because it’s right.

They just do things out of habit or because it’s a social thing in society or they go to make contacts for business dealings and whatever or to be looking good in society, the community that they’re a church going individual, but has nothing to do with their love of God. And so when Christ returns in the air for us and we’re caught up to meet the Lord, The Bible says, well there will be faith yet upon the earth. So there must be a time where it seems like that nobody wants to serve God, nobody really cared.

And today just because you can have a church of 20 people or 20,000 people and you never know where the individuals are in that church spiritually. So I want to kind of give a couple things to you. Look what it says here in verse 3. through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God. Now we say worlds were not actually talking so much about the planets out there in the universe and so forth. We’re talking about the periods of time in history because then he gets right into here in chapter 11 and breaks it down in the time of Abel, in the time of Enoch, in the time of the Flood, in the time of Sarah.

This is really almost like a breakdown of various dispensational teaching that we also have up here. We got the time of back here in Abel and the flood and Abraham and so forth and the law of Moses. So it’s already broke down the same way. And seven is the number of perfection. So you’ve got number one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven. Is the number of completion and this is the kingdom upon the earth. When he makes a statement in Book of Ephesians where he says in all things and all time shall be brought together.

It means the people from all the various periods of time will be brought together at this one particular time. And these are various ways in which God dealt with man concerning a responsibility. And at the end of each dispensation, there’s always failure because man fails God. And every person who is in the The book of Ephesians where he says, and all things and all time shall be brought together. It means the people from all the various periods of time will be brought together at this one particular time.

And these are various ways in which God dealt with man concerning a responsibility. And at the end of each dispensation, there’s always failure because man fails God in every period. period of time. So he makes the statement, he had through faith we understand that the ages were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. So we live by faith believing that what God says it is true. One fourth of the Bible is pre-written history.

Means God wrote it, telling the future before it took place so that we could know that the Word of God it is true. Now take your Bible and turn over there to the book of Colossians, the book of Colossians and chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1, he’s talking to us about something else that he made and things that are invisible and how things are held together, but look there in verse 17. The Bible says in the last part of verse 16, all things were created and get this by him for Him.

So if you ever wondered why did God create the heavens and the earth, well He created it for Him. And in the book of Revelation in chapter 5, excuse me, chapter 5, it also makes a statement that we are created for His pleasure by thy pleasure, by art and were created. But He says here in verse 17, He is before all things. By Him all things consist. Everything came from Him. He He was before everything and everything came from Him.

So whenever you say, well, who was in the beginning? Well, God says He was before everything. There was nothing before Him and everything that there is came from Him. Isn’t that a simple verse? That’s a good verse to know and to use in the Bible. Then He talks about verse 18. He is the head of the body, the church. That’s the period of time right here. This is known as the church age from Pentecost, the day of the birth of the church.

until the rapture, that is the church age. We call it the day of grace, but it’s the church age. This is the day, this is a night, and this is a day. What separates two days a night? So this is the tribulation, the dark period of time upon the earth. So this is the day, this is the day, and this is the night separated by the night. The other thing, keep in mind He says in the last part of verse 18, he says, Who is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.

In other words, he is over everything. Not only did he create everything, everything came from him. He also came into the world and he came back from the dead. And when he says he is the first from the dead, you say, well, there’s other ones that he raised from the dead before he died. Yes, but not by their own power. See, he’s the only one who could come back from the dead by his own power. Nobody else ever did.

Did other people come back from the dead? Yes, but not by their power, by his power. So he’s able to raise people from the dead and he came back that in all things he may have the preeminence. In verse 18, for it pleased the Father that in him should all fill this dwell. Now this is also mentioned here. If you’ll see there in verse 9, for in him, talking about Christ of chapter 2, develop all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

So whatever entails God, whatever is about God, it was embodied in that person of Christ. Jesus Christ, when he was here, was everything that there is to know and to do about God. He was the fullness of the Godhead. And we talk about the Godhead, we’re talking about God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. They’re all present right here. He says, he are complete in him. Now, what I want you to see there Colossians in chapter 1.

He also makes another statement, something that is very important, look in verse 23, because since he has and wants to have the preeminence gif togethe he wants it in our own individual life. In other words, God wants us to give him preeminence. He’s first. Down here we have many choices to make, multitude of decisions. But in everything, If Christ has the preeminence in our life, that means number one position, priority, everything is to honor Him, then you seek His will in everything that you do because…

He has earned the right because of who he is and what he has done for us, and I get this. If he continues the faith, get this grounded, settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, where of I, Paul, and made a minister. See, there’s many people in the world that know Christ is their Savior. And the only reason they know the Lord is because somebody, somewhere, explained to gospel, they heard, they read a tract, they read the Bible, but they got saved.

And that became the most important thing in their whole life. Now, our purpose in this world, why we live here, it says is the preeminence of Christ is the preeminence of the gospel, that you be not moved away from this, because you can be rooted and grounded in many things, many doctrinal positions. And there’s a lot of people that are very well grounded in many teachings of the Bible, but they’re not rooted and grounded in the gospel, even though they trust the Christ of Savior, because they cannot defend it and they cannot stay there because they’re not grounded and settled there.

And they get moved away from it as the purpose of our life. When you get right down to it, you cannot find another worthy purpose for an individual to live than to keep people out of hell. That is our main thing that God has given to us in every dispensation. Now, the thing is now, when Christ comes, are there people that still believe with all the heart that that’s the most important thing. If it is, the gospel becomes important.

If it’s not, then it’s not important. It’s just a fringe benefit. It’s just something out there. And the most important thing is just living a good old Christian life. Just staying out of trouble and doing right and going to church. And that’s it. Well, church is a full of people that’s doing that and nobody else gets saved. Once in a while somebody will come along and they’ll lead somebody to the Lord, but then they’ll filter into some church. And but then they don’t fall in love with this.

I get what he says here. be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature which is done to heaven. Now he says in verse 24, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you. Fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for my body’s sake, which is the church. Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God, the stewardship, which is given to me for you to fulfill the Word of God.

Even the mystery which had been hit from ages and from generations but now has made manifest to his saints. In other words this truth about Jews and Gentiles, believers from all walks of life, all races, all nations, anyone who believes in Christ form a body of Christ. This was hidden in times past. Nobody in the Old Testament knew about this. This was a secret. It’s a mystery. It means it is a truth that is now revealed for the first time.

When you see the word mystery, it means it’s a truth that has been hidden in times past but now revealed for the first time. So this is a great, tremendous truth. Because see, if they had accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, there would not have been church age. This would have went straight into here and this would not have been. So whenever the rapture takes place, we are going to be taken out of the world. This will go right back against this like it never missed a lick and the 69 weeks to Daniel will go right into the 70th week of Daniel and the rest of it is fulfilled.

This is in the Old Testament. This is all in the Old Testament. This is not in the Old Testament. This is a new thing. That’s why he said this is a dispensation of the grace of God that Paul says has been given unto me something new, mysterious, a great thing. So in verse 26 even the mystery which had been hid from ages and from generations but now has made manifest to his saints. And you they say, well, what is that in the last verse of 27, let’s say, which is Christ in you the hope of glory.

So you and I had something that they never had. I have the presence of the Holy Spirit living inside of me, which David never had, Daniel never had, Isaiah never had. Those Old Testament saints never had some of the things that we’re able to enjoy. Did you know that we have, we have all the books? They were written after them. They didn’t have what we have. They didn’t have the knowledge that we had. And yet they were able to maintain throughout their life a steadfastness and serving the Lord with less knowledge than what we have.

You see the Bible says in Hebrews in chapter 12 when he talks about we’re seeing that we have such a great cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside the weight that so easily be set us and let us run the race which has been set before up. See, they didn’t have this great cloud of witnesses. They were the ones there. But here we are, we’re over here and we’ve got 4,000 years of history. We’ve got the complete Word of God and we have Christ in you, the hope of glory, living inside of us to know more, to do more, to be more faithful.

And he says, will there be faith on the earth when I come? There’s a reason because when love waxes coal, iniquity abounds, the world is getting not better. It’s going to get worse. The worst part of time and all the face of the earth is the period of time that follows the greatest light in all the world. There’s never been a greater outporn manifestation of the Spirit of God, Christian soul-winning, church has been built all over the world and the world is getting worse, not better.

We’re not a stabilizing force. Look around you, see how many people we have? Where’s the people? And now a lot of churches are not doing much better. There’s a lot of them struggling. But even though they had three thousand or four thousand or five thousand based upon how many people are in America, all of them going to church and love God and supporting missions and doing things, no. It’s not. Just like they failed and they failed and they failed and they failed and we’re failing.

We’re failing. Thank God says this is the way it’s going to be and the whisper to time is right after it should have been the best. God has given us that which we should have been able to shake the world. And we haven’t done a thing. The reason because majority of most Christians are playing cold. They’re not hot. They’re not loot warm. They’re dead. Most Christians are just dead. There’s no life. They’re not positive. They have no concern. They seem like I really don’t care when he makes the statement here in verse 28 whom we preach Warning every man teaching every man and all wisdom that we may present every man maturing Jesus Christ So it’s not just a matter of winning somebody to the Lord It’s getting a person to where we can present every person maturing Christ and you know what and you can’t make anybody mature

You can’t make them grow strong in the Lord You can’t do it. So anyway, these are some tremendous verses now in the book of Ephesians turn to your left the book of Ephesians in chapter 3. In Ephesians chapter 3 the apostle Paul explaining to the church there because he says there’s Christ is the head of the church and there’s the body. We’re here we have an awful lot about the body of believers in the Ephesians. In the book of Colossians we have a lot about the head.

That’s Christ, head of the body. So Colossians you study about the head and look of Ephesians you study about the body and the body can do nothing without the head and most times we’re like people run around with a body without a head on. There’s nobody to tell us what to do because we don’t listen. And Ephesians chapter 3, look in verse 2, if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God. This is the dispensation. This period of time right here.

This is the stewardship of revealing certain new truths to the body of believers and our mission is totally different than what God gave to Israel or to gave to Noah back in Adam’s time. God never told Adam to build a boat. He didn’t tell them to go down into Egypt and tell Moses, I mean, to that wasn’t his job. God has given us a particular job, a special job, an awesome job. We have the glorious gospel, the greatest message in all the world.

And our job is to succeed that people come to know Christ, support and missionary, build in a strong body of believers so people will stay strong, steadfast. Sometimes I wonder, don’t people want, or maybe it’s because there’s just simply too many churches around. And if anybody gets ticked off in one thing because of one part, they just go to this church, you go to that church, you go to that. It doesn’t matter because there’s thousands of churches. Do you know there’s some places in this world that don’t even have a preacher, don’t even have a missionary?

I remember reading one time about David Livingston and he says when he went down into Africa, He says there’s a thousand campfires. Without a witness. He says, I stood on one hill and saw a thousand campfires and not one missionary. All these campfires represented little tribes of people. And he says they have no missionary and he gave himself as a missionary to go and reach those people. I read about William Carey as a missionary that went down into India because the same thing and and how that Hudson Taylor, he went to China and started the inland China missions.

and people that just gave their lives because they saw things differently. They didn’t have a witness. Today there’s so many churches. Nobody cares. You can go anywhere, do anything, believe whatever you want to believe. Find a church that believes what you believe and that’s where you go. Instead of finding a church that teaches the book, stands for the book and don’t bend on it. It’s like it doesn’t matter anymore. I believe everything matters. But here in Ephesians in chapter 3, look what he says, If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given to me toward you, how that by revelation he hath made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote it for in a few words, whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.

Which, and get this now, same thing we read over in the cause, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men. As it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit that the Gentile now here’s the secret this truth that the Gentiles might be fellow heirs with the Jews and of the same body in partakers of his promise in Christ by the what? By the gospel. You notice in every one of these days there’s always the gospel because that’s the key to everything and this is why some people if the devil can get working on somebody’s mind they always hear that I get sick and tired of hearing that gospel.

I get sick and tired of hearing that, seeing that hand illustration or hit John through 16. I want more. You see, it’s not that you want more. Is it you’re supposed to be doing more with that simple little thing that you already know. But if you don’t do something with what you already know, you don’t need nothing else. You’re not doing this with what you’re supposed to be doing. You’ve got this, the greatest message. And then sometimes we never give never share it.

And yet we expect everything else, just make me big in fact Christian. They won’t come that way. It always comes back to this. And he makes a statement here in verse seven, whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power unto me who am blessed in the least of all saints. Is this grace given. In other words, I don’t deserve what God has done for me.

He says, I am an example of how that God can save a man after everything that I’ve done. If God can save me, God can save anybody. This is why he says in Timothy that I am the chief of sinners because if God can save the apostle Paul and everything that Paul was guilty of, even murder, and God saved him and used him as an example, look what God can do for anybody else. And so he says, God did this for me.

I don’t deserve this on the least of all the saints that I should preach among the Gentiles the Unsearchable riches of Christ truth that the world cannot know if they don’t come from this book I know knowledge. I’ve got truth and there’s power in knowledge true knowledge. They can change a man’s destiny Revolutionize a person’s life this truth I know it and you know it and And we’re supposed to let this thing so motivate us and challenge us that we want to reach other people with the same knowledge.

And if you go down there to verse 11, and he says, according to the eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. So if God had, now look up here, if God did all of this, and God has this in here, and this is where we are, is this part of God’s eternal purpose? Does God have something special for us, evidently so? And we’re part of this eternal plan. And you may not see it and understand all of it, but while we’re here we have a responsibility.

Now what I want you to do is turn over there in your Bible to the book of Revelation. Revelation, and chapter 1, always told to draw the hat. If you can draw a hat, you can teach prophecy. How many of you in here can draw that? You can teach prophecy. See, all you’ve got to do is put the cross there, see anything else? Where’s the Rapture? Where’s the Revelation of Christ coming back to the earth? Where’s the seven-year tribulation?

Judgment’s seed of Christ, marriage’s supper of the Lamb, kingdom upon the earth. See how easy that was? All you gotta do is draw a hat. You draw a hat, you can teach prophecy. See how difficult it is to understand the Bible. It’s so hard. It is not hard. Now, what I wanted to show you is that the book of Revelation, here we go. There’s the rapture, there’s that seven years. I spread this out a little bit in here, but in chapter one and two you’ve got in here, chapter one I should say.

And then you’ve got the other verses that go in here, 2 and 3. You’ve got chapter 4 of Revelation right there. And then you’ve got all the way from chapter 5 through chapter 19 right here. Christ comes back. And chapter 20 to the end of the book. So is Revelation laid out in the Bible? Totally laid out. Piece of cake. you read the book of Revelation you know that chapter one is what thou hast seen. Chapter two and three deals with the church age.

This is where we are. Now some believe this and it may be true and there’s a good possibility it may be. But in this period of time which has lasted almost two thousand years. In these two 2000 years if we was to say break it down like this You’d have one two three four five six Seven Now simple like this when you read in there about the The seven churches the seven churches evidently would be doing the what period of time?

the church age right If you’re doing the church age Because he says right to things without has seen the things which are and then the things which shall be here after after the church age so when you read these it’s breaking down the history of the last 2000 years and The different church the church at Laodicea the church is Smyrna Thyra Hergamaz and so forth in Philadelphia right on down the line line. Let us see you. And we have ourselves the seven churches in order, bringing it all the way down.

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, 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.

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 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 Romans in chapter 9. Chapter 9 is a great discussion on the nation of Israel. Have God cast away His people? Has God cast them away? The reason this is so important because we just come through chapter 8, where it says there is now no condemnation to those that are in Christ. No condemnation means they can never be condemned. And then we read where regardless of what happens to you in life, of all the sufferings that we go through, the trials and the testings, tribulations, the temptation, all these things causes us to suffer.

We would love to live a life without suffering, without the temptations, without the trials, the troubles, without all the heartache and the distress, without the wars. But then we’re talking about heaven. We’re talking about when Christ comes back and He rules with an hour out of iron. But until then, we’ve got to go through this time. And the Lord says in Romans in chapter 8 and verse 28, He says, but we know that all things were together for good to them that loved the Lord, to those that are called according to His purpose.

So we know that there’s nothing for the Christian to have have to worry about in this life that could separate us from the love of God. And so he spends verse 35 of chapter 8 to verse 39 telling us that there isn’t anything in this world that can ever happen that can separate you and I from the love of God. So if you will look there very quickly in verse 37 where he says, nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us, looking at confidence in the Lord at this present time or looking down the road when we will be actually with the Lord and we’re in heaven and we have our glorified bodies, we will be able to say we were more than conquerors to Him that loved us because we won, we won.

defeated the death and we defeated the devil and we defeated the sinful nature, we defeated the world, but we won because we were in Christ and Christ won. He won our battles and he won our victories and he’s going to reward us because we’re in him. When he makes the statement there in verse 38, for I am persuaded that get this now, neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor death or any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord nothing can ever separate you from the Lord.

That is security that is eternal security that after you trust Christ is your Savior you can never be condemned again and there’s nothing that can ever happen in this world or the world to come whether it’s angels things you can see or things you cannot see, good or bad or indifferent, nothing can separate you from God. From the love of God. The love of God too was the gospel that saved you. And God’s the one that justified you. See what he says there in verse 31?

What shall we then say to these things? If God be forced, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? who can lay anything to the charge of God’s elect, God’s the one that justified you. There’s nobody over God to overthrow the decision. There’s no appeals court anywhere. There’s not a Supreme Court someplace that can overthrow the decision that God has made.

Judicially you have been cleared and God’s court of law and you are found not guilty. Therefore you can never be condemned. And nothing can ever separate you or I from the love of God. And then he explains to us what he means. And in doing so, he refers to the nation of Israel. Now, isn’t it true that there’s somewhere in the Bible that says that God will never cast you out? As many as come to him, he said, I will low-wise cast you out.

In John chapter 6 verse what? 37, very good. And then he makes the statement in verse 39. Was he saying verse 39 of John chapter 6 all that the father give us me shall come to me and him that comes with me I will and know wise Cast out I’ll never lose you. So if he’ll never cast you out and I’ll never lose you Then that sounds pretty secure Now you turn here to the book of Romans in chapter 9 and look in verse 1 He says I say the truth in Christ I lie not My conscience also buried me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great heaviness and continuous sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were a curse from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh.”

Now Paul had just stated that there isn’t anything that can separate you from God. No separation. Chapter 8 begins with no condemnation and it is with no separation and the content of the whole message is that there should be no frustration because you don’t have to ever be frustrated anymore about where am I going to spend eternity? And then he turns right around and says the very first chapter here, chapter 9, I say the truth in Christ I lie not.

But he makes a statement here, he says, if it was possible, I would wish that myself could be accursed from Christ for my brethren so that they could be saved. In other words, Paul says, there’s no way that I can ever be separated from God. I can’t lose my salvation. I can never go to hell in the future. But he says, if there’s one thing that I would be willing to do, he said, I would be willing to be accursed from Christ if my people would be saved.

Now I’ll have to admit something. I’m not yet at that point. I’m not at this point. I believe I’m dedicated to the Lord. I love the Lord and I love the lost. I don’t want lost to go to hell, but I can’t say I’m willing to go to hell in order for somebody to go to heaven. If you are, you’re a better man than I am. And when you stop and think about this for a second, think about all the ones that we just read about that have died in wars.

These young men that are 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 years old, go into war and they died and thousands upon thousands of them, almost a half a million just in the Second World War. of how many young people just gave up their life. They died so that somebody else can live. Now, you know, it takes an awful lot for somebody just to give up your life, for somebody else. And what would you like to be a soldier over in Iraq, willing to die for the people in America that say that you ought not be there?

What would that do to your death or the death of your buddies, then they died for nothing because you didn’t want them to die for you. You don’t want them to protect you because you don’t believe it. But this is war. This is what happens. It’s either we stop them or they kill us. They’ve stated that. They’ve attempted that. America did not start this war. It wasn’t started on 9-11. It was started years before when they kept bombing all the places that we had in our embassies and they’ve attempted it in other countries to a civil hundred just there in Beirut over in Lebanon and nothing happened to them.

That’s when America pulled out of Lebanon. There’s a lot of things that have happened and nobody did anything about it. Well I’m thankful that Lee Bush did something about it. I don’t agree with all of his policies but at least I believe he’s trying to protect America and I don’t believe a lot of people believe that even the moderate Muslims are safe because they’re only moderate because they’re the ones that are funding the militants. You stop and think about it.

Even in America, the moderates, though that wouldn’t harm a flea, though that love our freedom, they’re sending their money to people to destroy a defiant, to kill. That’s what they do. Even Saudi Arabia was also finance and terrorism in Pakistan and all of the countries, they all support terrorism. And little by little, they will wear America down. And what bothers me the most is that we have a lot of people now in government, in the House of Representatives, even in the Senate, that don’t have the stomach for war.

If they can let 2,000 that have died, change the policy of winning, what would have happened if they had been in control of the Second World War? And there was over four thousand a week for four years. What would have done it, there’s in charge. But now we’re talking about Israel and how God has told Israel that if they would just serve him, that he would take care of him. He said, I’ll protect you and you could have peace and abundance of all things.

And they wouldn’t believe God. And they would rebel against God and worship. He the night of them, false gods. And because of that, God would bring in nations against them to quibble. And then after the Babylonian captivity, they came back to the land on the Amaya, on Ezra. And then for 400 years, God never talked to His people, never sent a message, didn’t send a prophet. No scriptures were written. 400 years in between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

America’s all over 200 years. What if all those years you had God’s prophet speaking in for 400 years, no message? And Israel has been beaten down, but it was all because they rebelled against the Lord. They didn’t believe what God said. So has God cast away his people? And I believe the reason for bringing this up in spite of how bad Israel has been, How wicked they have been. God still loves this people. I believe it’s in here to give us an vivid, living illustration that regardless of whether you live for God or you don’t live for God and how wicked you are, you’re still a child of God and God will never cast you out and God will never lose you.

But God is going to chaste and that’s what He’s doing with the nation of Israel. Some people listen and learn and some people listen and never learn. But it makes the statement, I want you to see this, look there in chapter 10 and look in verse one. Look at the feelings that he had, brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

For they’ve been ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. See the goal of every person in the world from God’s viewpoint is to get a person to submit to the righteousness of God. And you see, religions of the world, there’s people still trying to establish their own righteousness. And the reason they’re trying to earn their way to heaven is because they haven’t accepted God’s way to heaven.

It’s free. So he says this. Now look there in chapter 11. Look in verse 1. I say then, hath God cast away his people? You see, if God can cast away his people in the sense that God can lose them and never save them, then then God can do the same thing for us. That’s why the nation of Israel can never totally be annihilated. They had been whooped down until there’s only a few left. There’s always a remnant. God always keeps a remnant.

Even though he chases on me, he lets some starve and he’s let him be beaten to death and taken into captivity and scattered upon the face of the earth. There’s always a remnant, small remnant. And what is the goal of the Islamic Revolution today? To eliminate the nation of what? Of all the nations in the world. Think of how many nations in the world. There’s one nation they want to do away with and what nation is it? The nation of Israel.

Why do they hate them so? God is the one that stirs up that hatred. God does that. God says, if you’ll serve me with joyfulness. I’ll bless you, meet all your needs and so for Jesus, but if you don’t serve the Lord thy God with joyfulness of heart, I will bring the nations against you. God said, I’ll bring them. God’s the one that brings the chaste in against the rebellious child of God, because we can’t live as we please and get away with it.

But he makes a statement in verse two, half a God half not cast away his people. You are the underlined that he did not. He did not. And like he said it, but in verse one, God cast away His people. God’s bit. No, He did not. He has not done that. He knows right where every one of them is. And God can chase Him and even take His home out of here. But with a nation of Israel, there will always be a remnant.

Oh, the Word of God isn’t true. And God says, as long as there are stars in the sky and there’s a moon and a sun up there and there’s seasons, He says, my word is true. God keeps his word. Now, if you look back there in the chapter 9, in verse 3, though as a nation, they will always be a people, but doesn’t mean that every person that’s born in the nation of Israel is a child of God. That’s a totally different thing.

See, see their inverse eight. That is, they which are the children of the flesh. These are not the children of God. Why was it talking about this? See, we just came through chapter eight when he talks about the children of the flesh and the children of the Spirit. Refer into your second birth and your first birth, the flesh, the Spirit. And you’ll also know that God uses the Old Testament stories to teach New Testament doctrine. So you can understand some of the teaching by the illustration that’s used in the Old Testament.

You have Abraham, the Father, and then Isaac, and you have Jacob. It didn’t even mention Ishmael, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, no ishmael. Why not? Because he was born of a Hagar, an Egyptian woman, a slave. That’s a type of the flesh. The promise goes from Abraham because of his faith in the Lord through Isaac, his faith in the Lord through Jacob, his faith in the Lord, and it follows her as a line all the way down through time. And that has never been broken.

Can’t broken and then notice this when he makes the statement there in verse 9 for this is the word of promise at this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son you notice it did not say that Abraham shall have a son because then you could say that refers to ishmael but this doesn’t refer to ishmael Sarah shall have a son and she only had one and I remember that name Sarah had a child. Abraham and Sarah had Isaac.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But you’ll notice in verse 10 and not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father, Isaac, So now they had a child and that child was Jacob. But she had another child before him named Esau. But there’s the first birth, there’s the second birth. Ishmael didn’t count. He was a first born, but not of the line. And then you had Esau, he was the first born, but he sold his birth right to his brother Jacob for a mess of pottage.

So the first birth refers to the flesh. And the second birth refers to the spirit. So God says, I love Jacob, but Esau have I hated. Look up here. This is the first birth, second birth. This is the first birth Esau was born before Jacob. But the Bible says that he loves Jacob but he hates Esau. The first birth represents the flesh birth. It wasn’t that God actually hated Jacob but what it stood for. It was the type of the flesh and the decision that he made was a type of the flesh.

That he despised his birthright, even though he was the first born in the family. So he makes the statement here in verse 11, For the children, being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that call it. It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, God have I, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated, that the purpose of election might stand.

This is how God chose. God did not choose to save the first birth. It’s the second birth that counts. That’s why you and I, when we’re born in this world, we have a flesh birth. But God loves you, but he hates and despises flesh nature that we have, that sinful nature. So what God did was He gave us a new birth and the new birth is born of the Spirit and born of the Spirit we have new desires but a struggle and that’s why the Arabs today are a type of the flesh and the nation of Israel is a type of the Spirit and they wore all the time.

They have never been at peace. They have always war for 4,000 years and this is why they’re not going to bring peace to the Middle East. If it’s anything it’s going to be a false peace and this is why the Bible says in the concerning the time when the Antichrist come he’ll make a peace tree but after three and a half years it will be broken because they’ve never stopped hating Israel. Someone Unconvinced against their will is of the same opinion still and we’re trying to force them to love Israel you can’t force somebody to love and We’re trying to use Economics to change their minds to break their will so that they will accept something they don’t want except This is why it was so hard for yes or air fat to ever make a peace agreement with the Israel and the PLO over there today the

Hammers run and they don’t want peace with it they want to annihilate why do you want to make peace with the one you want to kill they don’t love them they’re even taught in their schools in grade school that they’re nothing but pigs and apes I’m not making this up it’s in the Quran the Quran teaches that but here we have a whole chapter three chapters really chapter 9, 10 and 11 that deals with the nation of Israel and the reason I have referred to Israel is because God uses that as a type to help us to understand what God is doing with us and when He makes the statement in verse 11 of that the purpose of God according to election might stand so you understand what God’s doing then you read over there in Romans in chapter eight and verse 28 talking about according to

God’s purpose. You see God has a purpose with Israel. God has a purpose in your life and God has a reason for the all things that needs to work together. So does God know what we’re going to face today and tomorrow? Does God know about our health problems before we do? Does he know about our financial problems before we do. Does he know about our national problems? He knows everything. And God says, all things can work together for good to those who love the Lord according to his purpose.

God has a purpose. And it’s by grace. See, salvation is by grace, but living for the Lord is also by grace. When he makes the statement in verse 29 of chapter 8, for whom he did for it know, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the first born among many brethren. This is the new birth, and Jesus Christ is the first born which refers to here as one heaven preeminence.

Means if you read it in the book of Revelation in chapter three and around verse 14, it uses that same word that he is the architect of creation, the beginning, And in the book of Colossians in chapter 1, he has the preeminence, the first born, the chief, the architect. That’s who he is. It’s not like Jesus Christ had to be born into the world. When he was born, he already existed. That wasn’t when Christ came to be. He’s always been, always will be.

But these are some very interesting days in which you and I are living. And we don’t know from one moment to the next because there are people that would love to snuff us out whether we want to admit it or not. And I believe that there’s a lot of Democrats that need to wake up in this country before they destroy our country. And people that are very strongly against. The war is because they are against defending our country. They won’t defend us.

They will not defend us. And this is why that slowly, little by little, it’s winning the American people because we don’t have the stomach for it. You see, whenever they had Second World War, you didn’t see every night on the news, though the nation’s television news services, How that you know how many people died and the cameras right there on him and what they didn’t do I bet there’s been a lot of atrocities that took place during those wars and People that was soldiers that would kill somebody because it was either me kill you or you kill me and I’m not taking you Prison running that risk and I’m gonna blow you apart and if I’d have been there I probably would never tell about it But it’s the fight of survival It’s war They’re there to kill you and you’re there to kill them and it’s it’s war and there’s people that died

Wouldn’t be needed there were no wars But because people don’t believe what God says and they won’t live together in peace Somebody’s always greedy somebody wants to control somebody wants to take something from somebody But even though that causes nations to go against nations. Did you know that’s really main problem with people? people want to take something from somebody and and kill somebody, steal from somebody. What do you think these executives and all these corporations were doing? They’re stealing, they’re stealing.

And somebody gets mad enough to say, that’s got to stop. Somebody get mad enough and shoot somebody up. Why do you think always in these triangles, you know, some man run off with this other man’s wife and so he killed him and then she killed him and everybody’s always shooting or killing somebody? Why because somebody is war, It’s war. And look at the destruction that it brings. There’s no end to it. Not until we get out of this life.

But until then we have the indwelling Holy Spirit. God said, he’ll never cast us out. He’ll never lose us. And all things work together for good to those that know the Lord and love the Lord. According to his purpose, God has a purpose. Believe that. God has a purpose for Israel, though Israel doesn’t see it, doesn’t understand it. And wonders why the great Jehovah’s always against them and why they’ve suffered for 2,000 years because they wouldn’t accept them Messiah.

It could have all been changed. All could have been different. Let’s pray shall we? Our Father, we do thank you so much for loving us, for giving us eternal life and because it’s free. We can know we have it, know we cannot lose it and Father has your children to be able to put you first in our life, to love you and to serve you and Father we can’t explain all the things that happens in our life we don’t need to.

We just know that you’ll walk us through it to lean upon you and we thank you for all that you have done for us. We do pray Father for our President help him to take a strong stand. To look the devil in the eye, to look the Muslims in the eye and says you’re not gonna win and we’re gonna defeat and we’re gonna fight and Father I pray that you would help us to have a Congress that will back the president and to take a strong stand and help the people in America to see and understand That if we do not do what we need to do our children We’re gonna be studying the Quran We ask Father your blessings upon our nation Our families In Christ name we pray You’ve been listening to Bibleline a teaching ministry of Calvary community church in Tampa, Florida with dr

Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing 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, just keep looking up.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline. Here God’s Word on Bibleline, Everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calbreak Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring 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 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 the scripture is clear on what was to be done concerning the cities of refuge. Now you stop and think, oh, we live in a time where we don’t think that anybody is on our trail. Nobody’s after us. We’re getting away with murder, so to speak. And it doesn’t seem like God is concerned about the wickedness in America. Looks like he just let everybody just does as bad as they want to and they’re all getting away with it. But see, we don’t see sin the way God sees sin.

Now sometime back I preached a sermon on the, you know, it’s not that bad. It’s not that bad, but it is that bad if we see it from God’s viewpoint. So the Lord lays it down in His word that while we live, that there is somebody on our trail. Somebody is hot after you and somebody wants to avenge you. And the Bible says that even the Lord has a place of refuge for us. And if we don’t get to the place of refuge before the enemy gets a hold of us and destroys us, then we won’t make it.

Well, what does that enemy that can overtake us before we get to the city of refuge? You ever heard about death? Death. Did you realize that in this life death is on the trail of every individual? And we’re all trying our best to escape dying. None of us really are pursuing how to die. We don’t really want to go wrong. We’d rather live, but there’s another scripture that says that the devil as a roaring lion seeketh whom he may devour.

Who is also on your trail? There is a lion on your trail. There is a lion that is after you. And this lion is doing everything he can to bring you down. They don’t care how he does it. So there is an avenger where the Lord also says that there is something coming down the road. There is his wrath. The wrath of God is on the way. I mentioned the other night about God shooting an arrow and the arrow is called trouble.

And here comes the arrow and here you are. And God has at time just perfectly so troubles will hit you at the right time. You say nothing so far, nothing so far, but you don’t understand. Trouble is on its way. Everybody has troubles in this life and troubles are on their way and they’re targeted for you. If you don’t take in straighten up and do right, there’s an additional problems that God says is going to happen in your life.

And I’ll show you that in a little bit. Look there in the book of Joshua, chapter 20. Turn to the next book to your right. and chapter 20 and look in verse 1. Although there’s three statements about this cities of refuge, each one adds just a little bit more insight. In verse 1, it says, the Lord also speak unto Joshua saying, speak to the children of Israel, say, in a point, I offer you cities of refuge, where have I spoken to you by the hand of Moses.

Now Joshua is in the land. Moses was not in the land. So he told them what to do. Now they’re there and now they’re getting it set up. And so Joshua is telling them what tribe gets to golopp and there’s some of them that one on one side of the Jordan and some one on the other side of Jordan. So he’s telling them now about the cities of refuge to get this thing set up. So he says there in verse two, speak to the children of Israel saying a point out for you cities of refuge where have I spoken to you.

Verse three, that the slayer that kill of any person unawared and unwittingly may flee dither and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. And when he that death flee under one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city unto them and give him a place that he may dwell among them. And the reason was that he will be able to stay there in the city of refuge Until the high priest see every one of these cities because they were given to the tribe of Leela will have a high priest in these cities And so they would listen to his case and If they let him stay there then the high priest Will let him stay there until he dies when he dies

He is free to go and the family can’t touch him. He’s a free man But if he leaves and that high priest is still alive Then the family can get him and kill him That keeps that man in that city until that high priest dies and You better hope that you didn’t get a young one Because he might live a long time and you never get to go home again He said, that’s cruel. Don’t say anything God does is cruel.

God doesn’t make mistakes. God doesn’t do anything wrong. God is righteous. And still even today, though we know these stories in the Old Testament, these stories are in here to teach us truths about what He’s talking about in the New Testament. So He makes the statement there in verse 5. He He says, and if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand, because he smote his neighbor unwindly and hated him not beforehand.

And he that dwell in the city until he shall dwell in the city until he stand before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days, then shall the slayer return and come into his own city, into his own house, unto the city from whence he fled. It names those cities in here, he’ll be all right. So all he has to do, if he does something he shouldn’t do, did he better high-tail it and get to one of these cities as fast as he can.

Now, how do you apply all of this stuff? Well, that’s a good question. You’ll notice in the very beginning, when Adam and Eve sinned, how many sins did they have to commit to get kicked out of the garden, once in? So if they want to get back in, they would have to virtually be perfect, right? Because if one sin took them out, you’d have to be perfect to get back in. True? That’s why to go to heaven, you have to be what?

You’ve got to be perfect. You cannot go to heaven unless you’re perfect. But when Adam and Eve sinned, they hid themselves from God and God came looking for them. Now, did God know where they were? Yeah. Adam, where art thou? But God already knew where he was. Want to know, whoa, what happened? What’s going on? But he had to give an account. See, there’s always somebody that’s going to cause you to give an account of why you did what you did.

We don’t like this idea of accountability, especially to God, because he knows the truth, he knows everything. So it’s easier sometimes just to believe that there is no God. That way I don’t have to worry about ever facing God. because the word of God is true. God says there’s something that’s after you. And every soul that sin shall die, there is an enemy called death. And sooner or later you’re going to die, but you need to get into a place of safety before you die.

Now even though Adam and Eve had sinned, what did they put on themselves to cover their nakedness? Anybody know? Big leaves. But God still saw their nakedness and they still knew they were ashamed because they knew they were naked. So what did God do? God is the one that took an animal, killed the animal, and took and offered up the blood, sacrifice for them. An innocent died for the guilty and put coats of skin up on them. So that is a type of salvation.

So they had a covering. It didn’t take all their sins away because this is only what Christ did. Christ took our sins away. It only covered it until the payment was made, but they had to flee from the garden. And then all the way through the time you’ll find out that man had to flee from something. Now back during the flood, the Bible says that it was in the mind of man to be as wicked as he wanted to be and everything he imagined himself to do.

to do or could do or wanted to do, he did. And God says the world was wicked and that God was going to have to judge the world and he gave him 120 years. So every year that passed, there’s another year gone, but there’s something coming, what was coming? A judgment. There is a wrath of God. The judgment, which was the flood, is the wrath of God upon the wickedness of man. Did they get away with it? None of them got away with it.

There’s also an accountability as an individual between them and God. But also in this world, there was a judgment upon them. Did God judge them while they were in this world? Yes. We’re not talking about heaven. We’re not talking about hell. We’re talking about in this life. They were judged in this life. They were judged They didn’t do whatever they want doing got away with it. They didn’t get away with it. Nobody living today is getting away with anything Even your own personal sins that you don’t think nobody knows and nothing’s happened yet is costing you blessings in this life Now peace of mine now and rewards in eternity.

It’s already costing you. You’re not getting away with anything. You’re already paying a price This is you don’t even know it yet and not even that that there is a God that is on your trail There is the devil that is on your trail and there’s also the sin of death and it’s on your trail See there’s somebody’s after you all the time. That’s why the Bible has given us cities of refuge place to hide places of safety. Do you know what I love to get people to understand?

If they only understood that the church, the local church, is a place of safety and refuge in the world. It’s a place where Christians are supposed to go and feel safe because you know this is where God’s people come together. God’s people meet and God’s people love the Lord and we pray for one another. We encourage one another and And there’s a safety here. It’s like a safety net. There’s better protection here. Yeah, you gotta go out in the world, but there’s a God that can watch over you and bless you because you did what he said, do.

But when you don’t do the simple things God says to do, there’s no protection out there. You rebel against God and say, if God don’t judge you, you don’t get away with anything. And there’s a great price to pay. Now, when you come to the flood, did those people have an opportunity? they could have gotten corrected way before the flood ever hit. The Bible says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. It doesn’t say that in Genesis chapter 6, but it does say that over in the New Testament.

So we know that Noah was a preacher and he told him and that he warned them, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And whenever the flood was going to come, it says that the fountains of the deep sprung up, that means fountains of water from underneath, pressure broke up. You remember what happened with these, what they call the tsunami, because the tatonic plates that shifted in the bottom of the ocean floor and how it sent that great big old wave and washed it up on the beaches and so forth and all those people that were killed.

That’s what happened, I believe, for the flood. But it was happening all over the earth because there was a shifting of the earth. And you’re talking about the reigned upon the heaven because there was like a canopy of water around the earth. Baba talks about that in the book of Genesis and so there was a greenhouseosponsors effect upon the earth. That’s why people lived to be so long and animals got to be so big because of a greenhouse effect.

It was all the same all over but whenever God got through judge in the earth the water from above the water from below and the Lord says that He’d turt and just killed everything except what was in the Ark. So there was a place of refuge, but whenever the Bible says they went into the Ark, God shut the door, not Noah. No one didn’t shut the door. The Bible says that God shut the door. So if He shut them in, He also shut them out.

God did that. God let them die because they refused to obey and to correct their wickedness. Now when you get to the Sodom and Gomorrah and how wicked they live, you know, women with women and men with men, that’s sinful. It is wicked. It is not right. Any kind of sex outside of marriage, it is wrong. It’s ungodly. And it’s bringing down the standard of the people in America. Now young people, it’s a shame what’s been done. But are they getting away with it?

No, nobody’s getting away with anything because there’s judgment coming up on America. There’s judgment coming up on this whole world and the Bible tells us to flee from the wrath that is to come. There is a wrath of God’s judgment coming up on this earth. That is what the tribulation period is about. Where are we on God’s timetable? Well there’s the cross. We know we’re on this side of the cross. We’re about 2,000 years on this side of the cross and so the next thing happen is going to be the rapture where God takes us out and delivers us from the wrath to come.

But this wrath that is coming is God’s judgment upon Israel. And those that rejected Christ as their Savior and upon all the nations of the earth. God, judgment, coming. God says, flee. When Christ was here, He warned about the judgment that is coming and to flee. John the badness when he was here, he preached and says, who had warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come. So we can live our lives like nothing’s happening, nothing’s coming.

It doesn’t matter. It does matter. Everything matters. So when you go on down the line here, you find out that all these things that God promised in his word, it is true and it’s going to happen. I want you to take your Bible and look in Revelation chapter six. Revelation and chapter six, the last book in the Bible. Revelation chapter six. And you’ll notice in verse 12, verse 12 talks about that God says some things are going to happen in this world.

Things are not always going to be like it has been. A lot of things are going to change. In verse 12, he says, an eye beheld when he had opened the six seal and lo and behold, there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood. stars of heaven fail upon the earth. Even as a fig tree catches her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind. Now this is God’s judgment upon the earth and upon the stars and upon the sun and upon the moon.

And the Bible says also upon the earth and then he gets down to the people. And he says there in verse 14, and the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together in every mountain and island were moved out of their places. The Bible says that God is going to shake this earth like it reels back and forth like a drunk man. And that means that this earth is going to be literally shaken and moved and islands and mountains are going to be changed.

You think it’s everything just going to be just like it? Nothing’s happening. Nothing happened. Well, it’ll roll around and all of a sudden boom. You see, he gave them 120 years, but did the flood come just like he promised? Yeah. Should they have fled? They could have fled to the Ark for safety, but they didn’t. Look what else he says here. In verse 15, and the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the chief captain, the mighty men, and every bondmen and every free men hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, said to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that said it on the throne from the and you ought to underline the wrath of the Lamb.

And in verse 17, for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand? There’s people that will want to die and cannot die. Asking for the rock to fall upon him and it won’t hide him from the wrath of the land. You can’t run. You can’t hide. In other words, he says it’s a long way. You don’t know how long you got to live. You may have already lived 20 years or 30 years or 40 years of 50.

How long do you have the run this race? Somebody’s after you and you’re running for all that you’ve got. Trying to get to us place of safety before the wrath comes, before the avenger gets ahold of you. This is what this whole thing is about God’s vengeance because in Romans he says, do not take vengeance as an an individual and God says, I will avenge and God is moving. God is, I can see God working in a lot of people’s lives.

I’ve watched a lot of people over the years and I look what this book says and I see what people do and I see the consequences. God is not dead. God is still on the throne and God is working in people’s lives. And I’ve seen the misery that so many have and I’ve seen the loss of peace and joy and heaven so many of them have because They refuse to do what God says to do. They will not be obedient.

They will not be faithful. They play little games with God and they’ll be as faithful as they choose to be, but not dedicated to God. Will they get away with it? Nobody gets away with anything. Look there in the book of 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, and look in chapter 1 and verse 5. You get what he says here. is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God. Keep it in mind. The wrath of God, the judgment of God is righteous.

God has a right to do what he’s doing, what he’s going to do, and every man that goes to hell, it will be right. Every man that gets rewarded in heaven, it will be right. And every man here that gets blessed by God, it will be right. And every man in there that gets is miserable, it’s right, he should be miserable. Because there are results of choices that we make. And it makes this statement here. Look there in in verse six.

Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. Alright, look. Somebody does me wrong. Alright, let’s pretend. Somebody does me wrong. I don’t have to do them wrong back. He says in Romans, render not evil for evil. So I don’t do them wrong back. All I got to do is understand this verse and believe this verse. God says he will recompense to those who troubled me Pay him back is that what he says or not?

It’s what it is. Look what it says again Seeing it is a righteous thing With God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you now What do you think is gonna do that the next life? No You’re gonna do it and there’s a price in this life for people to pay And you may not see how they pay it. It doesn’t matter. You just believe what the book says and don’t take vengeance into your own hand or try to get things made right and that’ll keep you from getting angry and bitter and upset with everybody that does your wrong because you can turn that over to God.

I turn that over to God. And that, well, you can turn everything into that. I turn that over to God. God will take care of that. It’s not an unrighteous thing. It’s a righteous thing for for God to recompense tribulation on them that trouble you. And God said that he will do this. Look what he says now in verse seven. And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, get this in verse eight.

In flaming fire, taking vengeance. Who’s the one who’s taking vengeance? God says that he look up here. Christ is gonna come back in power and great glory. He’s going to take vengeance upon those that went against his people, Israel, in the tribulation period and wipe them out. So there’s going to be a judgment of the nations and those that they leave on the Lord, when they see him, will go into the kingdom upon the earth. Those that do not will be cast into the lake of fire.

There’s wrath coming here. And the Bible says that one day at the great white throne judgment, after the end of time, everybody will stand there. Those people that have not accepted Christ as their Savior, the Bible says that they will be judged. God will be righteous. They will be cast into the lake of fire. That’s the second of eternal separation from God. That is a result of God’s wrath. God taking out his vengeance. Did they get away with it?

No. What about you and I? You see, all the way back here, if the raptor took place right now, let’s pretend the raptor takes place right now. We are changed in a moment caught up to meet the Lord in the air. We will stand at the Judgement Cedar Christ where God is going to reward us for what we did in our period of time upon the earth. Every day is important. Every hour of our life is important. Every decision we make is important because we’re either gaining or losing something that will amount for all eternity.

So do we get away with anything down here? You don’t get away with anything. Does God see what you do? How you think? Even the motives of the man is going to be judged And so that’s why we flee why we can The devil is after you to try to ruin your life ruin your testimony so that you’re not faithful and you will not be able to be dependent upon to serve God Taken give what you’re supposed to give Servant the way you’re supposed to pray like you’re supposed to re like you’re supposed to because there’s a day come the wrath of God is coming There’s consequences to our decisions That’s why I think it’s so important for people to understand.

Serve the Lord why you can with what you have, where you are. Let me show you an illustration. I just thought of this illustration. Look up here, this hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. The Bible says that God loves us, but he hates our sin. And for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from God in hell. But God loves us doesn’t want us to go to heaven wants us to go to heaven So to go to heaven I’ve got to be perfect is righteous is God because heaven is perfect and God is perfect And I got to be perfect to go there But because of sin I can’t get in So the Bible says that we cannot earn our way to heaven we cannot buy our way into heaven I can’t go to church and go to heaven that won’t get me into heaven and given money won’t get me into heaven

the only way the paper sin is death and And I committed it I have to pay for it and so do you so we cannot save ourselves There is no way to save ourselves this hand represent 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 what Christ did for one person he did for everybody He took all the sins of all the world, paid for it on the cross and came back from the dead.

And God said, if I would believe he did that for me, he would put that payment to my account. And I get to go to heaven on what Christ did. See, I don’t earn it. I don’t work for it. I don’t deserve it. I’m a sinner, saved by grace. So God says, once you trust him as your Savior, you become his child and he’ll never cast you out and never lose you. I offered you my wallet and you accepted you to have an empty wallet.

I offered you the microphone and you accepted you’d have a microphone. If Christ walked in here right now and you accept him as your Savior He would give you as a free gift eternal life and they’ll never cast you out in nevelujaENDED There’s no tricks to it. There’s no gimmies. It’s theurion in all the world you cannot Buy or earn your way into heaven because it’s a gift of God and what is The importance of doing it now behold now is the day of salvation Because you see you don’t know when death is gonna overtake you When is the death going to overtake you?

Now if you knew you’re going to make it and you get to a city of refuge out there Wherever that might be and you can get away with that’s one thing but say you can see your place of refuge It’s not the ark in the Old Testament Our place of refuge is the Ark of Satan which is Christ Christ is a type of the Ark in the Old Testament Christ is coming to me and being saved all the ends of the earth the Lord.

He is our refuge That’s why he says, come into me, I’ll not cast you out. So important, let’s pray, show him. With every head bowed and every eye closed, no one looking around, if you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, why not right now say, yes, I know I’m a sinner, I believe Christ died and paid for my sins, and I will trust him right now to take me to heaven whenever I die. And if you’ll do that, God will save you.

Do it now. You don’t know how much time you got because somebody’s after you. If you’ve never trusted Lord and you will tonight today, why not just in the quietness of this moment say this, Lord, I know I’m a sinner. I believe Christ died, paid for my sins and I’ll trust Him as my Savior. Trust Him to take me to heaven whenever I die. And God said, if you’ll trust Him right now, He’ll give you a free gift eternal life and you’ll go to heaven whenever you die.

Is it in one of all before we close? Yes, I’ll trust Christ as my Savior and preach I like you to pray for me. Now I’m not going to have you forward. I’m not going to embarrass you. I’m not going to point you out. It’s overdone with when you make that decision. God knows who you are. God knows that you believe it. But would you believe it? See that? Yes, I’ll trust Christ as my Savior. I believe He died for me.

And I want to be sure of going to heaven when I die and preach it. Would you pray for me? But just slip your hand out very quickly, pack down. Anyone at all. Our Father, we do thank you so much for your blessings to us, for the opportunity to come together as a body believers and to see the importance of trusting your Savior, of serving you, and Father the importance of a good strong church because there is safety there.

The world is a wicked place, crooked and perverse nations. And follow the ash of blessing to fund each one. 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, Calvary of Tampa.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.

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 1-800-576-8 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 1-800-576-8 371 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. Matthew chapter 3, there’s a verse that says, Who hath warned you to flee? So look there in verse 5, John the Baptist was just come on the scene. He begins to preach telling them about Jesus Christ who is following Him, that they should believe on Him. So John the Baptist was not the most, I guess you would say, civilized individual in the sense that he did like everybody else.

He was a wilderness man, kind of like a wild individual, but he was used by God. And Christ says there’s never been a man born greater than John the Baptist. So look there in verse 5, then went out to him, Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the regions round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins, admitting what they had done on and up to it, confessing it. And then it says in verse 7, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and the Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, old generation of vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

Now, all we through the Bible, from the beginning to the end, there is a plea for people to flee from the wrath of God. God is going to judge. God is going to send something and everybody is to flee. No one needs to be saved from something that doesn’t exist. Nobody needs to be saved unless there’s something to be saved from. There has to be some consequences. The Bible calls it the wrath of God. The wrath of God is when God takes out his vengeance upon what people do.

We sometimes get lost in thinking that since I don’t see God and I don’t see anything going on, that I’m getting away with whatever I’m doing. And everybody else is getting away with it. But understand, nobody gets away with anything. But he makes a statement here in verse 7, when he saw many of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees were the self-righteous individuals, the law keepers. The Sadducees didn’t believe in the power of God. They didn’t believe in the resurrection.

They didn’t believe in the spirits. They didn’t believe in miracles. So the Sadducees were the total other extreme of the Pharisees. And both groups came to him and to the baptism of John the Baptist. And so he says, who warned you to flee from the wrath of come. So evidently fleeing from the wrath to come was a good thing and a wise thing. But what he wanted to hear from them Pharisees was that they would confess their sins and that have to commit that they’re not as righteous.

And the Sadducee, they had to confess their sins then that means that they would have to believe in a coming judgment and the power of God and miracles. And so they didn’t believe that. The Pharisees didn’t think they needed it, so he said they’re in verse 8, bring forth their fore fruits, meet for repentance. Show me, tell me, confess your sins, you hypocrites. And that’s what John the Baptist said. Now bound there in verse 11, he says that he that comes after me is going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

The Holy Spirit was for those that believed on Christ and the baptism of fire was for those that would not believe. On Christ. So he says in the last part of verse 11, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire, who spanned his in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor, gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Those that believe is the wheat, though that don’t believe is the chaff.

The chaff is going to have a baptism of fire. And this amazes me how many people that they saw about you got to get the baptism of fire. Well, you can have it if you want it. I don’t want it. of the Holy Spirit which takes place the moment you trust Christ as your Savior and you’re placed into the body of Christ. So we do have in the scriptures a warning to flee from the wrath to come. That’s really what all of our preaching is about, a teaching that we do, why we try to live the way God wants us to live because there’s a consequence if we don’t.

Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Numbers in chapter 35, all the way over there in the Old Testament, Numbers and chapter 35. There is an illustration that’s given in the Old Testament because they didn’t have the New Testament and there was a lot of stories and types and so forth that God would use to teach and Numbers in chapter 35, why don’t you look there in verse 6? Remember now, the Lord has given them the information about what they’re to do when they finally get into the land of Canaan.

Moses has the people in the wilderness for 40 years, and much of the first five books deal with the the wanderings through the wilderness and all the things that happened. But God told Moses things that he needed to get ready and what he’s supposed to teach the people so that when they got into the land they’d know what to do. So the land of Canaan was going to be given to Israel and they were going to divide it up among the twelve tribes.

Well 11 tribes got land. But one tribe, the tribe of Levi, well they didn’t get the land as far as a piece of territory. So God said, I want you to give them 48 cities among the other nation, of the other tribes because they would go to the temple and they did their work and so they had to be given 48 cities out of all the nation of Israel and out of those 48 cities there would be six cities that Would be long I should say that we call it cities of refuge that if a man accidentally kill somebody and back then say people took vengeance and Generally the family would come after you and catch you and kill you.

So people took vengeance. Now we’re studied in the book of Romans in chapter 13 where we are, in the last part of chapter 12, about not taking vengeance. Vengeance’s mind sayeth the Lord. But back in the Old Testament before everything got set up, God let a lot of things happen. So God said, I’m going to put six cities, three of them on one side of Jordan and three cities on on the other side of Jordan. And these six cities was where the tribe of Levi would own those cities.

They had 48 total, but six of them would be the cities of refuge. So that if a man did something that he shouldn’t have done, or accidentally killed somebody, he could flee. That he had to run to one of these cities. And when he got to that city, then it was the elders of the gate that would secure his safety until he found out what the story was. So, these cities sometimes could be a hundred miles away from where a man committed a crime.

Guilty or not guilty. And he could run. But then the gold of the family was to see if they could overtake him and catch him before he got there so they could take out their vengeance on him. Sounds pretty cruel, don’t it? Would it be exciting though? I I mean, all I gotta do is just, now Leon be in trouble. David did catch Leon out right now. But now, when he gets away, he can run better, now he’d be all right.

But what if you had to run 100 miles? And knowing somebody could take off and come after you and they’re gonna try to catch you. You’re trying to do everything you could to get away. But look what he says in verse six. And among the cities which are, shall give unto the Levite, there shall be six cities for refuge, which each shall appoint for the man’s slayer, But he may flee there, and to them you shall add forty and two cities.

They’ll get forty-eight total. So verse seven, so all the cities which ye shall give to the Levite shall be forty and eight cities. Them shall ye give with their suburbs.” So it goes down here now and it says in verse 11. in verse 11. Then you shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you. That the slayer may flee there, which killeth any person and unaware. In other words, he didn’t plan it. It wasn’t premeditated murder. He wasn’t angry at the guy and wasn’t mad before.

But he accidentally did something and somebody died. It was an accident. Now some people, yes, they could have done this and plainly deliberate murder. Well, he can run too, but the elders of the city are going to find out whether or not and listen to the story and the charges, but at least they had a, just like a Supreme Court. Now, after this court, there’s no court of appeals. There’s no court of appeals here. You can appeal to this one, and this one, and this one, and this one, and this one, like we do today.

It was go one court, you were wrong, That’s it. Death. But look what he says. And verse 12, And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger. That the man’s slayer die not until he stand before the congregation in judgment. And one of these cities, and all these cities which he shall give six cities shall you have for refuge. He shall give three cities on this side of Jordan, three cities shall you give in the land of Canaan, which shall be cities of refuge.

These six cities shall be a refuge, both for the children of Israel, for the stranger and for the sojourn among them, that every one that kill of any person unawares may flee to them.” That sounds like a good method, a good way of handling the problem. You just about to make sure that you can go fast enough. Now what I want you to do is look there in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 19. Just a very next book to your right.

Chapter 19 of the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 19, look in verse 1. Verse 1 says, When the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwelt in their cities, and in their houses, thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it. Thou shalt prepare thee away, and divide the coast of the land, which the Lord thy God giveth they to inherit into three parts, that every slayer may flee there, and this is the case of the slayer which shall flee there, that he may live, who shall kill his neighbor ignorantly, whom he hate if not in time past, as when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to who would, and his ex-fetcheth a stroke with the, and his hand fetches a stroke with

the axe to cut down the tree and the hedge slippeth from the heave, and lighteth upon his neighbor that he die, he shall flee unto one of those cities and live. Get the last, the avenger, generally a kinsman, the family, of the blood, pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot. That means angry, mad, bitter, upset, and in fierce rage. He says, and overtake him because the way is going to underline that phrase, the way is long. In other words, it did have a long way to go and having a long way to go.

It means you better not play around. You better get on the move because somebody is after you and going to slay you if they possibly can. So he says, whereas he was not worthy of death in as much as he hated him not in time past. So the scripture is clear on what was to be done concerning the cities of refuge. Now you stop and think, oh we live in a time where we don’t think that anybody is on our trail.

Nobody is after us. We are getting away with murder, so to speak. And it doesn’t seem like God is concerned about the wickedness in America. like he just let everybody just does as bad as they want to and they’re all getting away with it. But see, we don’t see sin the way God sees sin. Now sometime back I preached the sermon on the, you know, it’s not that bad. It’s not that bad. But it is that bad if we see it from God’s viewpoint.

So the Lord lays it down in His word that while we live that there is somebody on our trail, somebody is hot after you and somebody wants to avenge you. And the Bible says that even the Lord has a place of refuge for us. But if we don’t get to the place of refuge before the enemy gets ahold of us and destroys us, then we won’t make it. Well, what is that enemy that can overtake us before we get to the city of refuge?

You ever heard about death? Death. Did you realize that in this life death is on the trail of every individual? And we’re all trying our best to escape dying. None of us really are pursuing how to die. We don’t really want to die. We’d rather live. But there’s another scripture that says that the devil has a roaring lion, seeketh whom he what? May devour. Who is also on your trail? There is a lion. on your trail. There is a lion that is after you.

And this lion is doing everything he can to bring you down. They don’t care how he does it. So there is an avenger where the Lord also says that there is something coming down the road. There is his wrath. The wrath of God is on the way. I mentioned the other night about God shooting an arrow. The arrow is called trouble. And here comes the arrow, and here you are. And God has at time just perfectly so troubles will hit you at the right time.

You say nothing so far, nothing so far, but you don’t understand, trouble is on its way. Everybody has troubles in this life, and troubles are on their way and they’re targeted for you. And if you don’t take in straighten up and do right, there’s an additional problems that God said is going to happen in your life. And I’ll show you that in a little bit. Look there in the book of Joshua, chapter 20. Turn to the next book to your right.

Joshua and chapter 20. And look in verse 1. Although there’s three statements about this cities of refuge, each one adds just a little bit more insight. Verse 1, it says, the Lord also speak unto Joshua, saying, speak to the children of Israel, say, in a point, I offer you cities of refuge, where I by speak unto you by the hand of Moses. Now, Joshua is in the land. Moses was not in the land. So he told them what to do.

Now they’re there, and now they’re getting it set up. And so Joshua is telling them what tribe gets to go where? And there’s some of them that want on one side of the Jordan and some want on the other side of Jordan. So he’s telling them now about the cities of refuse to get this thing set up. So he says there in verse two, speak to the children of Israel saying, I point out for you cities of refuge, where have I spoken to you?

Verse three, that the slayer that kill of any person unawared and unwittingly may flee neither. and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. And when he that death flee unto one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city unto them and give him a place that he may dwell among them. And the reason was that he will be able to stay there in the city of refuge until the high priest, every one of these cities because they were given to the tribe of Leavat will have a high priest in these cities.

And so they would listen to his case and if they let him stay there then the high priest will let him stay there until he dies. When he dies he is free to go and the family can’t touch him. He’s a free man. But if he leaves and that high priest is still alive, then the family can get him and kill him. That keeps that man in that city until that high priest dies. And you better hope that you didn’t get a young one because he might live a long time and you’ll never get to go home again.

You say that’s cruel. Don’t say anything God does is cruel. God doesn’t make mistakes. God doesn’t do anything wrong. God is righteous. And still even today, though we know these stories in the Old Testament, these stories are in here to teach us truths about what he’s talking about in the New Testament. So he makes the statement there in verse 5. He says, and if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand, because he smote his neighbor unwindly and hated him not beforehand.

He foretold and he that dwell in the city until he shall dwell in the city until he stand before the congregation for judgment and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days, then shall the slayer return and come into his own city into his own house unto the city from whence he fled. And it names those city in here, he’ll be all right. So all he has to do if he does something he shouldn’t do.

But he better high-tail it and get to one of these cities as fast as he can. Now, how do you apply all of this stuff? Well, that’s… Good question. You will notice in the very beginning, when Adam and Eve sinned, how many sins did they have to commit to get kicked out of the garden? One sin. So if they want to get back in, they would have to virtually be perfect, right? Because if one sin took them out, you’d have to be perfect to get back in.

True? That’s why to go to heaven, you have to be what? You’ve got to be perfect. You cannot go to heaven unless you’re perfect. But when Adam and Eve sinned, They hid themselves from God, and God came looking for them. Now did God know where they were? Yeah, Adam where art thou? But God already knew where he was. Wanna know, well, what happened? What’s going on? But he had to give an account. See, there’s always somebody that’s gonna cause you to give an account of why you did what you did.

We don’t like this idea of accountability, especially to God because he knows the truth, he knows everything. So it’s easier sometimes just to believe that there is no God. That way I don’t have to worry about ever facing God. But because the Word of God is true, God says there’s something that’s after you. And every soul that sin shall die, there is an enemy called death. And sooner or later you’re going to die, but you need to get into a place of safety before you die.

Now even though Adam and Eve had sinned, what did they put on themselves to cover their nakedness? Anybody know? Big leaves But God still saw their nakedness and they still knew they were ashamed Because they knew they were naked So what did God do? God is the one that took an animal kill the animal and took and offered up the blood sacrifice for them. An innocent died for the guilty and put coats of skin up on them. So that is a type of salvation.

So they had a covering. It didn’t take all their sins away because this is only what Christ did. Christ took our sins away. It only covered it until the payment was made. But they had to flee from the garden and then always through the time you’ll find out that man had to flee from something. Now back during the flood the Bible says that it was in the mind of man to be as wicked as he wanted to be and everything he imagined himself to do or could do or wanted to do he did and God says the world was wicked and that God was going to have to judge the world and he gave him a hundred and twenty years.

So every year that passed, there’s another year gone, but there’s something coming. What was coming? A judgment. There is a wrath of God. The judgment, which was the flood, is the wrath of God upon the wickedness of man. Did they get away with it? None of them got away with it. There’s also an accountability as an individual between them and God. But also in this world, there was a judgment upon them. Did God judge them while they were in this world?

Yes. We’re not talking about heaven. We’re not talking about hell. We’re talking about in this life they were judged. In this life they were judged. They didn’t do whatever they want to do and got away with it. They didn’t get away with it. Nobody living today is getting away with anything. Even your own personal sins that you don’t think nobody knows and nothing’s happened yet is costing you blessings in this life now, peace of mind, now, and rewards in eternity, it’s already costing you.

You’re not getting away with anything. You’re already paying a price. It says you don’t even know it yet. And not in the event that there is a God that is on your trail. There is the devil that is on your trail. And there’s also the sin of death and it’s on your trail. See, there’s somebody’s after you all the time. That’s why the Bible has given us cities of refuge, place to hide, places of safety. You know what I love to get people to understand?

If they only understood that the church, the church, the local church is a place of safety and refuge in the world. It’s a place where Christians are supposed to go and feel safe because you know this is where God’s people come together, God’s people meet and God’s people love the Lord and we pray for one another, we encourage one another and there’s a safety here. It’s a safety net. There’s better protection here. Yes, you got to go out in the world but there’s a God that can watch over you and bless you because you did what he said do.

But when you don’t do the simple things God says to do, there’s no protection out there. You rebel against God and see if God don’t judge you, you don’t get away with anything. And there’s a great price to pay. Now when you come to the flood, did those people have an opportunity? They could have gotten corrected way before the flood ever hit. The Bible says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. It doesn’t say that in Genesis chapter 6, but it does say that over in the New Testament.

So we know that Noah was a preacher and he told them and that he warned them. But Noah found God. the grace in the eyes of the Lord. And whenever the flood was going to come, it says that the fountains of the deep sprung up, that means fountains of water from underneath, pressure broke up. You remember what happened with these, what they call the tsunami, because the tatonic plates that shifted in the bottom of the ocean floor, and how it sent that great big old wave and washed it up on the beaches and so forth, and all those people that were killed, that’s what happened, I believe, for the flood.

It was happening all over the earth because there was a shifting of the earth and you’re talking about the rain upon the heaven because there was like a canopy of water around the earth. Baba talks about that in the book of Genesis. And so there was a greenhouse effect upon the earth. That’s why people lived to be so long and animals got to be so big because of a greenhouse effect. It was all the same all over. But whenever God got through judging the earth, the water from above, the water from below and the Lord says that He’d tirt and just killed everything except what was in the ark.

So there was a place of refuge, but whenever the Bible says they went into the ark, God shut the door. Not Noah. No one didn’t shut the door. The Bible says that God shut the door. So if He shut them in, He also shut them out. God did that. God let them die. Because they refuse to obey and to correct their wickedness. Now when you get to the Sodom and Gomorrah and how wicked they live, you know, women with women and men with men, that’s sinful.

It is wicked. It is not right. Any kind of sex outside of marriage, it is wrong. Son, Godly. And it’s bringing down the standard of the people in America. Now young people, it’s a shame what’s been done. But are they getting away with it? nobody’s getting away with anything because there’s judgment coming upon America. There’s judgment coming upon this whole world. And the Bible tells us to flee from the wrath that is to come. There is a wrath of God’s judgment coming upon this earth.

That is what the tribulation period is about. Where are we on God’s timetable? Well, there’s the cross. We know we’re on this side of the cross. We’re about 2,000 years on this side of the cross. And so the next thing to happen is going to be the ratchet where God takes us out and delivers us from the wrath to come. But this wrath that is coming is God’s judgment upon Israel and those that rejected Christ as their Savior and upon all the nations of the earth.

God, judgment, coming. God says, flee. When Christ was here, He warned about the judgment that is coming and to flee. John the badness when he was here. He preached and says, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come? So we can live our lives like nothing’s happening, nothing’s coming. It doesn’t matter, yet it does matter, everything matters. So when you go on down the line here, you find out that all these things that God comes in His Word, it is true and it’s going to happen.

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 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 Bible Live. And now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friends, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. Hot 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.