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. 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 9 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.

I want you to understand that even though God had promised us great, wonderful things for Abraham, Abraham. Abraham, God says, is going to be blessed. And I’ll bless them. That bless you. I’ll curse them. That curse you. Abraham do that. And God said, I’m going to give you some land and I’m going to make you the father of a great nation. At that time, he was about 75 years old. His wife was old. And they didn’t have any children.

So this is going to be a miraculous thing done by God. This was his plan. There’s a lot of things God has planned that he just didn’t tell us about. When God got together with the Father, Son, the Holy Spirit, and their little council room of heaven, He didn’t call us in there and ask for our approval. All we can do is accept what God’s done. But I want you to understand this. Even though God had made such wonderful promises to Abraham that I’m going to bless you, Abraham did not always do that which would bring blessings.

You see, even though God is prominent, I’m going to bless. There’s things that God has determined, predetermined and counsel. But there’s some things that depend upon our obedience to the Lord. Because God cannot bless disobedience. And sometimes we don’t always do that which will bring blessings, but chastening. And I try to get people to understand that once you’ve trusted Christ as your Savior, yes, your God’s child, your His child forever. God will never cast you out in evolution. But there’s choices that you make in life.

Instead of you getting blessings that you could have had, you got chastened. But that’s your choice. Now here I want you to see that when God had brought him into this land of Canaan, the Bible says here in verse 10. I want you to see this. Well just first of all look there in verse eight. And here he moved from thence unto a mountain on the east of Betham and pitched his tent, having Beth along the west, and hey, I on the east.

And there he built an altar onto the Lord, and he called upon the name of the Lord. So evidently Abraham worshiped God. Now this is, I believe, the criteria. We should always worship the Lord. We should have a place we call an altar, a place where you get along between you and the Lord, and you talk to God. But just because he worshiped God and he believed all of this didn’t mean that Abraham made all the right decisions in life.

Didn’t mean from there on out he never did anything else wrong. Oh, he did. Now, remember whenever you really want to worship God, God is going to allow things to happen in your life. To see whether or not do you really love him? Do you really want to walk by faith? Or are you really his friend? want to please God. Well then God sometimes begin turning off lights. He wants you to trust Him more than anything else in the world.

So look what He says in verse 10. And there was a famine in the land. Well couldn’t God have stopped that? Yes God could have stopped the famine. Isn’t God in charge of the weather? Yes God’s in charge of the weather. Couldn’t He have let it rain? Yeah He could have. But He let there be a famine. I mean upon Abraham? Yeah even upon Abraham. You mean everything didn’t go right? No, not everything always goes right to those who love the Lord and worship God.

But you still want God’s blessings. See, there’s a lot of forms of blessings in life. Sometimes your hardships, your sorrows that bring all these things to you, your trials and tribulations, those are blessings of God because they can drive you closer to the Lord. Did you know that we blessed with money might drive you further from the Lord and the money not a blessing, it’s a curse. You see, more people, many times yield themselves to God in hard time, more though in good times.

But he makes this statement here in verse 10, and there was a famine in the land and Abram went down into Egypt to sow gerunderem. For the famine and you ought to underline this word in your Bible, it was grievous. It means that Abraham had hard times, but wasn’t God going to bless him? Yes, God was blessing him. God knows what he’s doing. God has a plan. God has a purpose. And his doesn’t always run parallel hours. Sometimes it’s totally contradictory of what we want to do.

And this is what sometimes make us question God because we can’t sometimes at the moment see the wisdom of God because if God really loves me, God really going to bless me. Why is he taking so long? Well, why don’t hurry up and do something. You see, God is not really that big of a hurry. Somebody asked God, says, God, how long is eternity you? He says, like a minute. He says, what’s a million dollars like to you? He says, penny.

Or can I have a penny versus in a minute? God’s not in a hurry. God is a patient God. As you read the Scriptures you’ll find out over and over again it says, wait upon the Lord, be patient. You see one of the things that we can’t stand is when we want something we want it now, I want to store with it, to get something. Each other I can have back for you in about three days. I said if I wanted in three days I’d order it three days from now.

I want it now. I’m a man of patience. Most of us, we can’t handle stress, pressure. And generally it’s because we take upon ourselves more than what God ever intended for us to. We weigh ourselves down and we burden ourselves. God will give you the grace that you need to bear what He placed upon you. But sometime we place more upon us than what God did. He says in the book of Deuteronomy, He says, unless you serve me with gladness or joyfulness of heart, I will place a yoke of iron upon your neck until it destroys you.

And yet Christ says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Servant the Lord is so hard. Then it’s not the Lord you’re serving. Oh Lord, it’s not hard. His burden is not heavy. It’s light. Because, see, he says, learn of me. The reason God places things upon us so that we’ll learn. Because God doesn’t just open up your head on the top and pour all this wisdom into it and then cap it again.

Oh, I’m bright now. It don’t work that way. It’s through the living of life, the daily things, all of your multitude of decisions. The way you learn how to make good decisions is make bad decisions and learn from them. You get wiser. Or you can even learn from somebody else or you can read the Bible and put God’s word into practice and you’d be surprised how many pitfalls and snares that you can save yourself and how many scars you can keep off yourself if you’ll just put the Lord first.

But what I want you to see here, It makes a statement down here in verse 12. Therefore it shall come to pass because he’s talking about his wife. We’re going down into Egypt. And he says, honey, he says, you know, you’re a very good looking woman. Now she’s in her 60s, but she’s a good looking woman. And he says, now when we get down there, you just tell him you’re my sister. Cause if they think you might want, they’ll kill me and take you.

So he’s just him and you’re messing. Now, is it right to lie? Well, it’s not. He said, well, it’s maybe, because she could have been his half sister. And men believe that that was the case. So it was just a little white lie. He says, this is his one. And they will kill me, but they will save the life. Say I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me, for thy say, and my soul shall live because of thee, you’ll save my life.

Yay! I’m not sure Abraham did everything kosher, but instead of bringing a blessing, because he said, I will bless you and you’ll be a blessing to others. Was he a blessing to Pharaoh because of this? Look what it says down in verse 7, and the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarah Abram’s wife. didn’t God had already just promised him, but I’m going to bless you. And I’m going to bless others through you and that shall be a blessing.

Well, he wasn’t being a blessing right now. Does that a null God’s promise? That doesn’t a null God’s promise. You see? Abraham still has to do what’s right to get many of the blessings. You see, God wants to bless you and I. Our going to heaven is free. That’s a gift of God. That’s because of what he did for us. That shows how much God loves us. And then once you trust him as your Savior, you have eternal life and he’ll never cast you out and never lose you.

You can never go to hell once you trust the Lord. You have eternal life. He’ll never take it away from you. But that doesn’t mean you can live like you please and get away with him. Now you can live like you please, but you can’t get away with it because God your heavenly father is going to beat the Tar out of you and maybe take you home before your time And so instead of getting blessings you get just the opposite So he says The Lord put a plague upon Pharaoh not a blessing because Abraham didn’t do right You see this didn’t have to be this way, but because of choices that he made and verse 19 Pharaoh said to him he says Why sayest thou she’s my sister?

So I might have taken her to be my wife. Now therefore behold thy wife take her and go thy way. In other words, I don’t want to be around you. Get out of our country. Boy, so much for blessings there, isn’t it? But as you go through and you study the Bible, you’ll find out that all the stories, whether it’s Abraham, it’s Abraham and God. The story I’ve told you before about Joseph. It’s the story of Joseph and God.

The story of Daniel is the story of Daniel and God. We often say Daniel and the lion is dead. Yeah. The three Hebrew children in the fire. It’s the story about those three Hebrew children and God. All life is a story about you and God. When all this life is over with is going to be what did God, God mean to you. What did Jesus Christ do for you? What did you do with Christ? And our lives that we live, it should behoove every individual that one thing that you want, more than anything else in the world, is that you want God to bless you so that you can be a blessing.

And sometimes we go through life and we cause nothing but heartache and misery to other individuals instead of just the opposite, the blessings of God. What I want you to do there is look there in verse 2 again of chapter 12. And verse 2 says, I will bless thee, make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. Now I want you to take and hold your place here, but look at Numbers in chapter 6. Numbers and chapter 6.

This is a good portion of scripture, Because this was something that God told Moses to teach to the fathers concerning their children. Because we should want this, teaching children that what you want more than anything else in the world is the blessings of God upon my life. I try to tell the teenagers, though they even want to play ball, it doesn’t matter what the activity is, character over talent. character over talent. Here in Numbers in chapter 6, notice what it says, in verse 23, speak unto Aaron and unto his son, sayin, on this wise you shall bless the children of Israel, sayin unto them.

This is what you’re to say. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon the and give the peace. Isn’t that a wonderful portion of Scripture? This is what every father should want for his children and we should want for every family. When we pray God bless our church, Well God will bless our church when God can bless the family and God can bless the family when God can bless the individuals in the family.

There’s a story in the Bible that I think you may have heard of it called Jonah and the Whale but it’s really a story of Jonah and God. And God had something he wanted Jonah to do but Jonah didn’t want to do it so he ran from God. And when he ran from God, he got himself into trouble. And when he got into trouble, after he had got on this boat, the man on the boat says, look, we got to get rid of our troubles.

Getting rid of .. their troubles was getting rid of Jonah. So what did they do to Jonah? God rid of them. And that’s how they saw their problem. Now listen, in a church, in the country, we always have some Jonah’s. You have people that are rebellious to God. They’re rebellious to God. You may know Christ is your Savior, but if you’re not serving God with all your heart, you’re rebellious. Sir the Lord and do right, do good. You could be a Jonah on board.

I asked every person here, every family, every individual, every teenager, examine your heart and ask God, Lord, if there be any wicked way in me that’s not dealt with, reveal it to me and I’ll take care of it. I don’t want you to be a Jonah in your family or in a church. I want you to do right. God’s blessing upon us as a whole could depend upon one person doing right. Do you ever read the story in the Old Testament about the sin of AI after the great victory of Jericho and the walls come tumbling down, one man stole some Babylonian garments and some coins and he hit him in his tent.

Anybody remember that story? The next victory wasn’t a victory. It was because there was trouble in the camp and God chasing the whole nation One man, one whole nation, one man. Now you know how they dealt with that man? You don’t want to know. I think they burned him with fire in his whole family. They stoned him to death. God doesn’t tolerate rebellion. God wants to bless us more than our desire to be blessed. But He will bless only obedience.

So as a child of God, now see, we have been blessed by salvation by grace because to tell a man he has to save himself by his works or to keep the law to be saved, that is not a blessing, that is a curse. A blessing of God is God saving a man without him deserving it without him earning it. That’s grace. Grace is God’s riches at Christ’s expense. He’s doing it because of what Christ did for us. Now God wants to bless you and God wants to bless me.

The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. By that word countenance I wrote the little word smile. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee. I want the Lord to smile when he looks at you because he’s so pleased with you. You teenagers, I want God to be pleased with you. Just like when he looked over the banister of heaven, he says, this is my beloved son in his reference to Jesus Christ.

This is my son in whom I am well pleased. Christ says, I do always those things that please my Father. As you live your life, seek to do those things that pleases your heavenly Father and God will bless you because of it. I go back there to the book of Genesis and chapter 12. And verse 3 says, and I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curses thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Now that last phrase I told you is a reference to the gospel that we have in the New Testament. It shows that God had preached the gospel to Abraham before the law was ever given, so that a man could be saved and the way it’s worded there in the book of Galatians in chapter 3 is it says, and that a man would be justified by faith, being justified, saved by faith without the law. Such an awesome thing. Now in these scriptures, I want you to look in Isaiah chapter 54.

I want to show you an awesome scriptures. might want to write it down so that you can remember. God says because of His love, everlasting love, for the nation of Israel, God says some wonderful things in Isaiah 54, but this is right after Israel has crucified the Son of God in chapter 53. 53 is a, a messianic Psalm like, like one of the Psalms. It’s a chapter that deals with the payment Christ made on crossbar sends. And then it makes a statement there in verse 15, look at verse 15 of chapter 54.

The last part of it says, whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. Do you not only believe in the divine appointment of God but the divine protection of God? Did you know that if you serve the Lord with all your heart and you love Him and you serve Him? Did you know that you’re divinely protected by God? That God can keep anything from happening to you, but God, if you rebel, yes, God can let anything happen to you to wake you up or take you home.

Many of God’s children never live the length of life that God had designed. He says, children obey your parents that you days may be long upon the earth. Well, when it’s your time to go, you’re going to go. I told you this before. This man was trying to talk his friend into getting an airplane. He said, get in, I’ll take it around. He said, I ain’t getting an airplane. He couldn’t get in. No, I ain’t getting an airplane. He said, look, when is your time to go?

It’s your time to go. Don’t worry about it. He said, yeah, but what if we get up there? It’s your time to go. What am I supposed to do? Yeah, I’m going. Look there in verse, Leon says, the Bible says, and Lou, I am with you always. No, hi. Lou, I am with you. Look at verse 17. In verse 17, no weapon, get this, this is a very important verse. No weapon that is formed against the shall prosper. Every tongue that shall rise up against the end judgment, thou shalt condemn.

Let people say, let people do all their wickedness. You’re not in this lifetime going to straighten out the world. And sometimes we want to get vengeance, and we’re going to straighten them out. I’m gonna straighten him out. There’s this young kid. I thought my star. He’s in the New York. Come on, let’s go outside. Let’s go outside. Here’s a Chihuahua facing a rock-wiler. He just doesn’t understand the situation. But I was told that a little old Chihuahua can kill a rock-wiler.

They get caught in a throat. Some of y’all get that after a while. every tongue that shall rise against the indigestion, thou shalt condemn this. On the line, this part of the verse, this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. Isn’t that an awesome verse? You see, you don’t have to worry too much about protecting yourself. God can do a pretty good job. I’ve told people I might need a couple of bodyguards sometimes because of the things that I say.

But I’ve even had them, you know, resign. So anyway, God is a wonderful, powerful God. He has provided for you and I the whole world, salvation. And anybody in the world that wants to be blessed with salvation can have it. That means to get to go to heaven, to have eternal life, to be a child of God. And it doesn’t cost them a thing. They don’t have to stop something or join something. It’s a gift. It’s free. For by grace are you saved through faith that none of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast and everybody who believe that God will save him and give me eternal life. Let me show you something. Let me just a moment. This hand represent you and me and this wall of represents sin. We all have sin upon us. Now 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 a place called hell.

But God wants us to go to heaven. And to go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God and nobody is perfect because we all have sinned. And God cannot allow sin into heaven. He says, there shall no wise enter into it. Anything that makes it the liar, the abomination cannot enter into heaven but not get dead. Because heaven is perfect and we’re not and we’re condemned. God says, you cannot save yourself. You can’t do a bunch of good deeds to cover the bad deeds.

You need a Savior. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord. He’s God in a flesh. He came into the world because He loves us. He hates our sin because it separates us from Him. So Jesus Christ, who had no sin, did not have to die. But because He loved us, He took all of our sins, past, present and future, all the sins of all the world one time and made a payment for them. Now the sins of the world has been paid for every person that’s ever been born or ever will be born.

Christ paid for our sins before we were born, He paid for our sins before we committed the first sin. He’s already paid for the ones that we haven’t yet done. He paid for all sin. He’s not coming down tomorrow and pay for anymore. All we have to do to go to heaven. Is if we will believe that he did it for us. You can believe he did it for the world, but that doesn’t get you a little pink. He’s one inch closer to the pearly gates.

You know, he did that for me. He died for the world. He did this for me. And he said, who’s so ever that’s me. If I will believe that he did it for me, he will put this payment to my account, and I get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for me. If offered you my wallet and you accepted what would you have? empty wallet boy y’all got good. I offered you my Bible and you accepted you have a Bible and if Jesus Christ walked in here and offered you eternal life and you accept it you would have eternal life and if it’s eternal life how long would it last?

It lasts forever and if it lasts forever and all of your sins are paid then where would you go when you die? Can you know you’re going to heaven before you die? But yes you can and the only way you can know that you’re going to heaven is because it’s by grace. It’s free. Anyone who believes that salvation is really by grace can believe it’s forever. You can believe that God will never cast you out and never lose you if you really believe it’s by grace.

Then you have no trouble with eternal security. I’m eternally secure. I can’t go to hell if I try. I haven’t tried. But how will my sins are pain? I serve the Lord because I’m going to heaven, but I don’t serve the Lord to get to heaven. If I disobeyed God, He won’t kick me out and say, go to hell, I’m through with you. No, He says, come on in. And He’s going to chase in me and whoop me and maybe take me home before my time.

But I have lived long enough that I want to continue to see the blessings of God upon my life. And I know that if I walk with Him and I talk with Him, and whenever I fail, I confess that and get things right, I know God will continue to bless me. And God will do the same thing for every one of his children. Do you want God’s blessings upon you? Let’s pray, shall we? Every head bowed and every eye closed and no one looking around.

If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, I’m not going to have you forward, not going to embarrass you, but right where you’re sitting. I want you just to talk to the Lord and say something simple like this. Lord, I know I’m a sinner. I believe Christ died, paid for my sins, and right now the best on O’Hound, I will trust him out, take him at his word and believe he paid for my sins and preach I life you to pray for me.

So I’m going to ask you just among what to raise your hand. Raising your hand doesn’t save you. I’m not going to embarrass you. I’m not going to have you forward. But I want to have prayer for you. Is there anyone at all before we close? Yes, I’ll trust Christ as my Savior and I’ll have you to pray for me. We’ll just let me in very quickly and put it right back down. Anyone at all before Yes God bless you man.

Anyone else? If you’ve never trusted Christ you’re not certain of eternal life. Would you do it right now? Now I got embarrassed and I’m gonna make fun of you point you out or anything like that It’s over and done with when you make a decision if you trust Christ right now He saves you right now and gives you eternal life That means that you will not go to hell in the future. It means you’re going to heaven because he loves you that much Our father would do thank you so much for all you’ve done for us.

We thank you for the free gift of a criminal life. And, finally, we ask your blessings upon each person and family, and upon our church. 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 Bible line and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771.

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

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. friend one day it will happen the trumpet will sound we will be changed hot up to meet the lord in the air so live today and every day believe in that the lord is coming soon just keep looking up

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

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 3-7-7-1.

Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family. The book of Genesis, the book of Genesis. And what I want to discuss with you is found there in chapter 12. Abraham, the Bible says, was a friend of God. When it comes to salvation, there’s scripture that says that a man is justified by faith, justified by faith.

And he says, what hath Abraham our Father as pertaining to the faith hath found? Well Abraham knew that a man could not be saved by works, that a man is saved by grace. Abraham lived approximately 430 years before the law was ever given to Moses on Mount Sinai. So because of that, a man could not be saved by the law because they never had the law. And even when the law was given for fifteen hundred years, no one ever kept the law.

So the law was never given to save a man. It was given to show that a man cannot by his works save himself so that a man would be saved by grace. here in the book of Genesis in chapter 12, the Bible says in verse 1, Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation.

Now get the various things in the next couple statements about the word bless. He says, I will bless thee. There’s several statements down here called the Abrahamic Covenant where God says, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will. These are things that God has determined that He is going to do. It was an Abraham that went looking for God and calling for God. It was God who went looking for Abraham, just like it was the Lord that went looking for Adam and he says, where art thou?

The other night I had a very interesting thing happen because I do believe in divine appointments. I believe in the providential hand of God. I believe that God created the heavens and the earth, created you and I and put us here and I believe that God is the great shepherd and He’s always seeking the sheep. So He has moved in strange and mysterious ways in every one of our lives because every person sitting in this room who has trusted Christ’s their Savior was because Swordsman’s appointment that you had had been in a certain place, at a certain time and heard a certain message and God wanted you to be saved.

God’s the one that says, going to all the world and seek the lost. We’re supposed to go for Him. It’s God that took the initiative and God loves us very, very much. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Now, who so ever believe it then Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Because of God’s great love for us, God sent His Son to die on the cross to pay for our sins so we could have eternal life.

The other night I got home from one of the games. I was tired. It was a late game, I think, about 10 o’clock after we finally got through. Anyway, I came home and went to bed and oh man, all beds feel so good. I’m so glad God created beds. I’m so glad He created food. I loved eating and I loved sleeping. Isn’t it a wonderful thing? Those are blessings of God too. And we get to enjoy those every day.

Even breathing. Oh, what a blessing. But I got a phone call that morning. And it was from the Clark County Police Department. And I know I hadn’t done anything lately. So I said, what can I do for you? Well, they want to know if somebody had broken to the church. I said, sometime back, I said, yes, or somebody’s broken into our church. He said, well, we’re out here right now. We’ve got a couple of windows that we’re looking at.

And, um, Was one of them. Can you come come to the church? I’ll be glad to come to the church Anyway, I got under bed and I came over here. It’s about four o’clock on Friday morning, I guess it was and I got here. There were three police cars I hear in the parking lot They said they’ve been having some break-ins and people been stealing stuff and most of sound equipment at all But anyway, we went into the the building came in here Nothing seemed to be disturbed and so they two got in the car and they left and the one young man about 22 years old and I guess he’s the one that saw broke window back there.

And it was just one that we hadn’t replaced yet. Sooenix,initecellent, I said, well, I’m gonna go get myself a cupmalink coffee. He said, I’m gonna give me one, two after a while. so circumyrightedustoms,jpg, to him at all. Four o’clock in the morning, maybe my mind wasn’t too clear, but, but, clear, but, but, clear, but, but, but, clear, but, clear, but, clear, but, clear, but, clearbyterics, He said, I’m so sorry, I let you down on that. So anyway, I’m sitting there drinking my coffee and the door opens up and guess who walks in?

My policeman. He walks up, sets out of the counter, orders him a cup of coffee, orders him some breakfast. And he looked over at me and he… He said, how long have you been past? I said, about 40-something years. He said, how long have you been here? I said, about 14 years. He says, how old are you? I thought, man, he asked a lot of questions. I said, I’m 63. I’m hollered back and forth across the restaurant. Many people in there, I assure you.

I said, why don’t you, instead of hollered and back and forth, why don’t you come over here and sit down at my table? He said, I guess I can’t. He came over and sit down, drank his coffee. They brought him some breakfast. I started talking to him. And I asked him, I said, where are you going to go when you die? He didn’t know. And I explained to him how he could have eternal life by simply trusting Christ’s Savior.

And when I got through and I said, look, I said, God knew where I was. I was at home in bed sleeping is where I was. I said, God knows where you are. And I said, I believe that God can make our paths cross. I don’t believe that breaking in had anything to do with the issue. It’s all because God wanted us together. And I said, God loves you and God wants you to have eternal life. And I want you to trust the Lord.

And I explained it to him. And I said, will you right now, will you trust Christ as your Savior? He says, yes, I will. That makes more sense to me than anything I’ve ever heard in my life. He said, I’ve never heard it that simple before. I’ve never heard it that clear. And so I thank the Lord, gave my heaven trying, finally got his trying. But do you believe in divine appointment that God has a special thing for you?

That you’re living by the grace of God in this world? And it’s not just a game, it’s just not haphazard. There’s things going on. And the belief that God is using, be a blessing. But look what he says here. I will bless thee, make thy name great, thou shalt be a blessing.” Now get the two things. God says, I’m going to bless you and thou shalt be a blessing. I’m going to bless you and you’re going to be a blessing.

We often call that make me a channel of blessing. Let God use me that I might be a blessing to others. Now I know there’s a few people that probably consider I’m a curse in this world. But I really want to be a blessing to people. I want the lost people in the world to hear the gospel, how they can have eternal life. And I want God to use me and my voice to reach people. I want people to be in heaven because they heard the gospel from my lips.

But I want every child of God to think that way, to feel that way. You should want to be a blessing. Now the blessing that I want you to see is this. In the last part of verse 3, he says, and in thee, and all thy shall all families of the earth be blessed. All families of the earth be blessed. That statement though we may not see it on the surface. In the book of Genesis, excuse me, in the book of Galatians in chapter 3.

It says that Abraham was justified by faith and that God preached before the gospel under Abraham saying, in these shall all families of the earth be blessed. But what he’s talking about and the blessing that he’s talking about is salvation. It’s salvation. And that’s the context in the book of Galatians. so that through Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and on down the line, a seed would come. And that child that would be born was the Son of God. And Jesus Christ is the seed from which the Bible says, if that seed it die, it will bring forth more fruit.

It’s the kernel of corn that dies and brings forth more. And there’s multitude of people all over the world that now have been blessed because of the seed of Abraham, of the human race, God sent his son into the world to be born so that you and I could be blessed. I am a very blessed man. You don’t look at a person’s life in a sense of this little thing that went wrong and that little bad thing that he did and this little bad thing that it did.

No, there’s a lot more to life. In other words, consolidate your life as though God will look at it. And when you read the book of Hebrews, you’ll find out in chapter 11 that when God talks about the heroes of faith, the whole of faith chapter, there’s none of their failures that’s recorded only that Abraham believed and Sarah believed and Joseph believed and Moses believed and by faith they did these things but it doesn’t record any of the failures of their life not even against David or against Samson because see in heaven God’s gonna reward us for the things that we’ve done our sins is not an issue anymore because they were paid for by Christ when he out on the cross.

And they’ll never be brought up again. They’re removed as far as the east is from the west, cast into the depths of the sea. In other words, they’ll never be thrown up at you again because they’ve been paid for and been forgiven. But when you get to heaven, God wants to reward you for what you’ve done for Him, why you hear. God wants to bless us in our life. And if there’s anything that a child of God should want is, I want God to bless me.

The children that were born in the beginning of the Old Testament, you’ll find them whenever the dad is about to die. He brings the family in and the kids and he puts a blessing upon them and that God would honor the blessing of the Father upon the child. one day a man named Jacob deceived his father and you had Jacob and he saw and he saw became very bitter and wanted to kill his brother and then when you read in the book of Hebrews the Bible makes the statement when he would have inherited the blessing he had forfeited it because he sold his birthright it was the right by being first born to inherit those blessings and he forfeited all of those blessings that he could have had because of a week time in his life.

Now I want you to understand that even though God had promised such great wonderful things for Abraham, Abraham God says is going to be blessed and I’ll bless them that bless you, I’ll curse them, that curse you.” Abraham knew that. And God said, I’m going to give you some land and I’m going to make you the father of a great nation. At that time he was about 75 years old, his wife was old, and they didn’t have any children.

So this is going to be a miraculous thing done by God. This was his plan. There’s a lot of things God has planned that he just didn’t tell us about. When God got together with the father of the the Holy Spirit in their little council room of heaven. He didn’t call us in there and ask for our approval. All we can do is accept what God’s done. But I want you to understand this. Even though God had made such wonderful promises to Abraham that I’m going to bless you, Abraham did not always do that which would bring blessings.

You see, even though God is promised, I’m going to bless. There’s things that God has determined, pre-determined and counseled. But there’s some things that depend upon our obedience to the Lord. Because God cannot bless disobedience. And sometimes we don’t always do that which will bring blessings but chastening. And I try to get people to understand that once you’ve trusted Christ as your Savior, yes, your God’s child. You’re His child forever. God will never cast you out in evolution. But there’s choices that you make in life.

Instead of you getting blessings that you could have had, you got chastened. But that’s your choice. Now here I want you to see that when God had brought him into this land of Canaan, the Bible says here in verse 10. I want you to see this. Well just first of all look there in verse 8. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethum and pitched his tent, having Beth along the west, and He built an altar unto the Lord, and He called upon the name of the Lord, so evidently Abraham worshiped God.

Now this is, I believe, the criteria. We should always worship the Lord. We should have a place we call an altar, a place where you get along between you and the Lord and you talk to God. But just because he worshiped God and he believed all of this, didn’t mean that Abraham made all the right decisions in life. Didn’t mean from there on out, he never did anything else wrong. Oh, yeah, he did. Now, remember whenever you really want to worship God, God is going to allow things to happen in your life to see whether or not, do you really love him?

Do you really want to walk by faith? Are you really his friend? Do you really want to please God? Well, then God sometimes began turning off lights. He wants you to trust Him more than anything else in the world. So look what He says in verse 10, and there was a famine in the land. Well, couldn’t God have stopped that? Yes, God could have stopped the famine. Isn’t God in charge of the weather? Yes, God’s in charge of the weather.

Couldn’t He have let it right? Yeah, He could have. But He let there be a famine. I mean upon Abraham? Yeah, even upon Abraham. You mean everything didn’t go right? No, not everything always goes right to those who loved the Lord and worshiped God. but you still want God’s blessings. See, there’s a lot of forms of blessings in life. Sometimes your hardships, your sorrows that bring all these things to your trials and tribulations, those are blessings of God because they can drive you closer to the Lord.

Did you know that we blessed with money might drive you further from the Lord and the money not a blessing? It’s a curse. You see, more people, many times, yield themselves to God in hard time, more though in good times. But he makes this statement here in verse 10, and there was a famine in the land and Abram went down into Egypt to sow gerunderem. For the famine and you ought to underline this word in your Bible, it was grievous.

It means that Abraham had hard times, but wasn’t God going to bless him? Yes, God was blessing him. See God knows what he’s doing. God has a plan. God has a purpose. And his doesn’t always run parallel hours. Sometimes it’s totally contradictory of what we want to do. And this is what sometimes makes us question God because we can’t sometimes at the moment see the wisdom of God because if God really loves me, and God really going to bless me, well, why is He taking so long?

Well, why don’t He hurry up and do something? You see, God is not really that big of a hurry. Somebody asked God, says, God, how long is eternity to you? He says like a minute. He says, what’s a million dollars like to you? He says, penny. Uh, Lord, can I have a penny? Lord, can I have a penny? Lord, can I have a penny? Lord, it’s just in a minute. God’s not in a hurry. God is a patient God.

As you read the scriptures, you’ll find that over and over again. It says, wait upon the Lord, be patient. You see, one of the things that we can’t stand is when we want something, we want it now. I wanted to store with the kids something. Each other I could have at for you in about three days. I said, if I wanted in three days, I’d order it three days from now. I want it now. I’m a man of patience.

Most of us, we can’t handle stress, pressure. And generally it’s because, see, we take upon ourselves more than what God ever intended for us to. We weigh ourselves down. And we burden ourselves. God will give you the grace that you need to bear what He placed upon you. But sometime we place more upon us than what God did. He says in the book of Deuteronomy, He says, unless you serve me with gladness or joyfulness of heart, I will place a yoke of iron upon your neck until it destroys you.

And yet Christ says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for my yoke is in. easy and my burden is light. Servant the Lord is so hard. Then it’s not the Lord you’re serving. Servant the Lord is not hard. His burden is not heavy. It’s light. Because you see, he says, learn of me. The reason God places things upon us so that we’ll learn. Because God doesn’t just open up your head on the top and pour all this wisdom into it and then cap it again.

It’s going bright now. It don’t work that way. It’s through the living of life, the daily things, all of your multitude of decisions. The way you learn how to make good decisions is make bad decisions and learn from them. You get wiser. Or you can even learn from somebody else or you can read the Bible and put God’s Word into practice and you’d be surprised how many pitfalls and snares that you can save yourself How many scars you can keep off yourself if you’ll just put the Lord first.

But what I want you to see here, it makes a statement down here in verse 12, therefore it shall come to pass because he’s talking about his wife. We’re going down into Egypt. And he says, honey, he says, you know, you’re a very good looking woman. Now she’s in her 60s, but she’s a good looking woman. And he says, now when we get down there, you just tell him you’re my sister. Because if they think, you might want, they’ll kill me and take you.

So he’s just him and you’re messing. Now, is it right to lie? Well, it’s not. He said, well, it’s maybe, because she could have been his half sister. And men believe that that was the case. So it was just a little white lie. He says, this is his one. And they will kill me, but they will save the life. Say I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me, for thy sake and my soul shall live because of thee, you’ll save my life.”

Yay! I’m not sure Abraham did everything kosher, but instead of bringing a blessing, because he said, I will bless you and you’ll be a blessing to others. Was he a blessing to Pharaoh because of this? Look what it says down in verse seven. and the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarah Abram’s wife. We didn’t God had already just promised him, but I’m going to bless you. And I’m going to bless others through you and thou shalt be a blessing.

Well he wasn’t being a blessing right now. Does that annul God’s promise? That doesn’t annul God’s promise. You see Abraham still has to do what’s right to get many of the blessings. You see, God wants to bless you and I. Our going to heaven is free. That’s a gift of God. That’s because of what He did for us. That shows how much God loves us. And once you trust Him as your Savior, you have eternal life and He’ll never cast you out and never lose you.

You can never go to hell once you trust the Lord. You have eternal life. He’ll never take it away from you. But that doesn’t mean you can live like you please and get away with Him. Now you can live like you please, but you can’t get away with it because God, your heavenly Father, is going to beat the Torah out of you. maybe take you home before your time. And so instead of getting blessings, you get just the opposite.

So he says, the Lord put a plague upon Pharaoh. Not a blessing because Abraham didn’t do right. You see, this didn’t have to be this way, but because of choices that he made. In verse 19, Pharaoh said to him, he says, why sayest thou she’s my sister? So I might have taken her to be my wife. Now therefore, behold thy wife taker and go thy way. In other words, I don’t want to be around you. Get out of our country.

Boy, so much for blessings there, isn’t it? But as you go through and you study the Bible, you’ll find out that all the stories, whether Abraham, it’s Abraham and God. The story I’ve told you before about Joseph, it’s the story of Joseph and God. The story of Daniel is a story of Daniel and God. We often say Daniel and the lion is dead. Yeah. The three Hebrew children in the fire. It’s a story about those three Hebrew children and God.

All life is a story about you and God. When all this life is over with, it’s going to be what did God, God mean to you? What did Jesus Christ do for you. What did you do with Christ? And our lives that we live. It should behoove every individual that one thing that you want, more than anything else in the world, is that you want God to bless you so that you can be a blessing. And sometimes we go through life and we cause nothing but heartache and misery to other individuals instead of just the opposite, the blessings of God.

Now what I want you to do there, look there in verse 2 again of chapter 12. And verse 2 says, I will bless thee, make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. Now I want you to take and hold your place here, but look at Numbers in chapter 6. Numbers in chapter 6. This is a good portion of scripture, because this was something that God told Moses to teach to the fathers concerning their children because we should want this.

Teaching children that what you want more than anything else in the world is the blessings of God upon my life. I try to tell the teenagers though they even want to play ball. It doesn’t matter what the activity is. Character over talent. Character over talent. in Numbers in chapter 6, notice what it says. In verse 23, speak under Aaron and unto his son, saian, on this wise you shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them. This is what you’re to say.

The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Isn’t that a wonderful portion of Scripture? This is what every father should want for his children and we should want for every family. When we pray God bless our church, will God bless our church when God can bless the family and God can bless the family when God can bless the individuals in the family.

There’s a story in the Bible that I think you may have heard of it called Jonah and the whale but it’s really a story of Jonah and God and God had something he wanted Jonah to do but Jonah didn’t want to do it so he ran from God and when he ran from God he got himself into trouble. And when he got into trouble, after he got on this boat, the man on the boat says, look, we got to get rid of our troubles.

Getting rid of their troubles was getting rid of Jonah. So what did they do to Jonah? Got rid of him. And that’s how they solved their problem. Now listen, in a church, in a country, we always have some Jonas. You have people that are rebellious to God. They’re rebellious to God. You may know Christ as your Savior, but if you’re not serving God with all your heart, you’re rebellious. Serve the Lord and do right. Do good. 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. 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. Just keep looking up.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on the line, 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.

Though God is sovereign, that means he has the power, the right to do anything he wants to do because he’s God, that he also in his sovereignty chose to give to man a free will because he wanted to. But I want you to see what he chose to do. He chose to do something that mankind just can’t believe. I mean, it’s an awesome story. We have the greatest message in all the world to tell people. God so loved the world.

It’s awesome. Turn in your Bible to the book of Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8 and 9. These two verses are two of my favorite verses in the Bible. They’re awesome. Salvation is based on belief alone. Salvation cannot be earned. You cannot work your way to heaven. When look what he says they’re in verse 8. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.

Isn’t that awesome? Grace means unmerited favor. In our minds, we always think you have to do something. We have to be good. And I thought that for so long that I had to be good to go to heaven. But I never knew how good I had to be. I was always told if you’re bad, you’re going to hell, but I didn’t know how bad I had to be to go to hell. So there’s a lot of people that were just like I am.

They want to go to heaven. They hope they’re going to heaven, but they don’t know how good they have to be to get there and they don’t know how bad they got to be to go to hell. Well, God says that I’ll solve the whole problem for you. He says, there is none good. We’ve all sinned. None of us deserve to be saved. None of us deserve to go to heaven. But he says, by grace are you saved through faith?

That not of yourselves. It’s not of yourself. You can’t earn it. See, this is what’s so different from all religions. Christ says it is the gift of God, not works lest any man should what? Most. Because if I could earn my way to heaven, then I could boast or brag in what I have done. Look what I did. I deserved to go to heaven. God says no. You can’t boast or brag because it’s not according to your work. He said it’s the gift of God.

A gift isn’t something you work for. You don’t earn a gift. A gift is free. What is this gift, the gift of eternal life? All men had the ability to believe and this belief in Christ results in salvation for any man. Turned there to John chapter 3 and verse 16. John chapter 3 and verse 16. This is probably the most quoted verse in the whole Bible. But it’s a verse that lets us know that all men have this ability and that anyone who does believe, It results in salvation for any man.

Doesn’t matter who the person is. Doesn’t matter where they may be. Crisis going to all the world and preach this good news to every person in the world, every creature. So it doesn’t matter who they are. Doesn’t matter about their race or the creed. It doesn’t matter what kind of religion they had. He said, every person, let them know this. God loves them. God paid for their sins. And he says here in John 3 16, look at this verse.

It’s awesome. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever, that means anybody in the whole world, would believe that he did it for them. Believe it in him should not perish. That means won’t go to hell, but have as a free gift, have everlasting life. So God says that he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever, anybody, believe it in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Take your Bible now and look there in 1 Timothy 2, 1 Timothy and 2. I am right only as I’m right with what the word of God says. The Bible is the authority. Christ really did die for all men and all sin. Aren’t you glad that He died for everybody? Did you know if the Bible had said He died for everybody but one person? You would wonder if you were that person. Or if He died for all sins except just one sin, you wouldn’t know whether or not is that the one that I did?

If he paid for all of my sins but one, he didn’t do you any favors because the wages of sin is death. But look what he says here in 1 Timothy and chapter 2. Look in verse 6. This is Christ. Who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. In other words in verse 5, there is one God, one media between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. There’s only one true and living God. But God revealed Himself in three persons as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

You see, God was willing to come into the world and to die for sin. The coming into the world, taken upon flesh, that’s Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the true and living God. This is why the Jewish people, when Christ made the statement, I and my Father are one, they took up stones to stone Him, because he made a statement that he was God. See if he’s the son of God, that makes him God. If I am human and I have a son, my son will be human, right?

Because I’m human, he’s human. If God is God and he has a son, his son will be God. So God had a son. But you see, that son was the Holy Spirit that came over Mary. And the Bible says that he planted a perfect, holy seed. It says that holy thing that shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God. That’s why when Jesus Christ came and it makes a statement in Matthew chapter 1 it says concerning Jesus Christ his name shall be called Emmanuel.

Emmanuel is an untranslated Hebrew word which means God with us and the Jewish people did not believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. They didn’t believe he was the Messiah, they rejected him because they rejected him Aadhaar they were scattered upon the face of the earth and God says that he would persecute them and they’ve been persecuted for 2000 years since Christ has been here. But they brought it upon themselves. It didn’t have to be that way.

It’s that way because they rejected Jesus Christ as their Savior. Many people reject Jesus Christ as their Savior. And he is the only Savior. He’s the only one that you’ve ever heard about has ever made a payment for anybody’s in. He is the Lord, the true and living God. Notice here in this verse, I want you to see that in verse six, who gave himself a ransom for how many people, for all means he made a payment for everybody.

Everybody can be saved. Look in Hebrews chapter two, Hebrews and chapter two just turn to your right just a couple pages and you’ll come to the book of Hebrews in chapter two and look there in verse 9. In verse 9 makes a statement that, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death because angels don’t die. So God doesn’t die. So God had to take upon flesh and be made lower than the angels for a reason.

He makes a statement in verse 9, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death so that he could die. And Christ when he was here would not have died because of any sin that he because the Bible says he had no sin. He was perfect. He was God. He had no sinful nature. Every person born in the world has a sinful nature we all sin. But Jesus was born, he did not sin.

That’s why he can make a payment for our sins because he was innocent. See a guilty man can’t pay and die for a guilty person. Only an innocent person can die for a guilty person. And the Bible says here in the last part of that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. That means every person in the face of this world, Jesus Christ died, tasted death for every person so that everybody in the whole world can have eternal life.

There’s only one true in living God, and this one true in living God made a payment for the sins of the whole world so that the whole world would know how much does God love us? He loves us enough that He was willing to die for us. That’s love. And then he did it in such a way that it doesn’t give it just to the rich and take it away from the poor. There’s no acts that you have to perform.

All you need to do is believe this. If you can believe this wonderful story that Jesus Christ did this for you, He saves you and gives you as a free gift. He’s the first to ever lasting life and you go to heaven on what he did for you. That is awesome. Look in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 2. I want you to see this. These two verses. My little children. Now this is written to those who have accepted Christ as their Savior.

These things right eye unto you that you send not. And if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous. In other words God doesn’t want us to but when we do sin after we trust the Christ as our Savior. doesn’t cast you out. He says, He’ll chase you, discipline you, have to correct you. But He does not allow us to live as we please and get away with it. Now God says if I serve Him, He will bless me.

But if I don’t and I sin against Him, He says He’ll forgive me when I confess that to Him. He says He may have to chase in me, maybe punish me in some way or take me home before my time. But He can never cast me never send me to hell. I am his child forever. That’s awesome. See in most religions it would always be that if you’re good you’re going to heaven and if you’re bad you’re going to hell.

So then you got to correct it and get it going again and then get it going again and you never know for sure if you’ve been good enough you really don’t know where you are. But notice what he says here in verse 2 and he is the propitiation for our sin. That means the satisfaction, the payment. He was a payment for our sin, not for hours only, those who believe, but also for the sins of the whole world. It means that Christ came and paid for the sins of the whole world.

See what God wanted Israel to do, God wanted Israel to accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah, but they didn’t. God wanted to use them as a light to the Gentiles so that they could be a light to take the truth that God had given and reveal it to the world, and they blew it. They blew the opportunity that God gave them. They took the one person that came into the world that never wronged anybody that had the right, the only right, to claim the throne of Israel, to be the king in Israel, and they killed him.

And God allowed his death because he was innocent to be a payment for the sins of the whole world. Look there in Isaiah chapter 64 and verse 6, lest you get to the place where you think you could live good enough to satisfy God. Here in Isaiah 64 verse 6, look what he says in verse 6, but we all are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousness or as filthy rags. We do all do fade as it leave and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away.

In other words God says that we all have sinned. All of our righteousness are as filthy rags. So man doesn’t have any righteousness compared to God’s. We have sinned against God. So we have come short of God’s perfection. And to be righteous with God, to live with God, we have to be as righteous as God. In heaven there’s no sin. So how is a man going to be made righteous as God? Just as if he had never sinned. Well this is the problem.

Man thinks he can by his own religion, by his works, be good enough and someday he’ll make it and I made it. I got to go to heaven.” No, God says all of your righteousness or his filthy rags. You’ve come short of God’s perfection. You cannot save yourself. It’s impossible. So the only hope is Jesus Christ came down into the world, became a man and paid for our sins, rose again and said all those that would believe it. He would forgive them of all the sins that they’ve done.

And He would give to them His righteousness. If God gave you His righteousness, that would make you as righteous as God. And you go to heaven on what He did for you. And God says, I’ll give this righteousness to every person in the world if they would only believe. Look in John chapter 3 and verse 18. John chapter 3 and verse 18. Here in John chapter 3 verse 18, I want you to notice this point, all men are condemned, judged and found guilty before they either accept or reject Christ.

He’s just simply waiting for the day of execution. Everybody’s going to die. You see, if you did not sin, you would not die. God doesn’t sin. God doesn’t die. Christ came into the world. If he had not sin, he didn’t have to die. But he took our sins when he took our sins, he had to die. And so the Bible says he died for us. Did he die for all of my sins? Yes. How many would I have to pay for?

None. So you don’t have to pay for something twice. People throughout the world, most have never heard this, never understood this. We have a Savior, but He must be accepted. He does not force Himself upon individual. Every individual must understand that they are a sinner and that Christ died for them. And Jesus said, there is no other name given among men under heaven where by man must be saved. He says, no man come up unto the Father except through me.

You can’t get there except through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was not just a man like you and I. Jesus Christ is the Lord. Verse 18 says, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned when. He’s already condemned. You say, do I have to wait until I die? And then I find out if my good works outweighed my bad works and then God is going to weigh them and then I’ll find out if I’m condemned or not.

No. Many people think that’s the way it is. I thought that for years. No. God says you’re already condemned. You’re already guilty. You’re already condemned. And you cannot save yourself and God’s already told us in advance. Forget your good works. It won’t matter because all you needed was one bad one to send you to hell. So how many people are condemned. Everybody in the world. Everybody sends everybody’s condemned. We’re all in the same boat. But he makes a statement, but he that believe if not is condemned already because, and here’s the reason why.

Because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. If there’s anything the Bible teaches, it is that Jesus Christ as the Son of God came into this world to make a payment for the sins of the world. And if we accept and we have eternal life and if we reject Him, we do not have eternal life. But it’s not something that I have to wait until I die to find out if I’ve got it.

If I accepted Christ as my Savior today, right now, and if I’m sitting here and I hear this and I say, I have never trusted Christ as my Savior. But if I believe this right now, will God save me right now? Yes, He will. And if He saves me, what does He save me from? From hell. does He give me eternal life? When? Right now. And if it’s eternal life and it lasts forever, and all my sins are paid, when I got up to leave, where would I be going when I die?

To heaven. Do I have to wait till I die to find out? No. And sometimes I have people saying to me, well, if what you say is true, you could just go out here and do all these bad things and still go to heaven when you die. I know. God loves me that much. But see, He He set me free and he lets me choose. I can choose to obey him because I’m his child. I can choose to disobey him and he’ll hook me.

So I just came to the conclusion, it’s better to serve the Lord. See, going to heaven is free. What you have when you get there, God says you have to earn those. And so yes, there’s advantages in serving the Lord. But God says to love one another. He even says love your enemies, but love. God is love, and this is what He wants us to do. Notice something else here. In His sovereignty, the right, the power to do, whatever He wants because He is God, God has given to man a free choice, a will, because that’s what God wanted to do.

Just because man has a free will doesn’t mean God isn’t allowed to influence man’s will. You see, let’s say for example, You take Johnny down here. Let’s say Johnny is a lost man. But there’s a God in heaven that loves Johnny. But God is given to him a free will. He can choose to do whatever he wants. He can get married or not get married. He can work or not work. He can grow his hair three feet if he wants to him from under his arms.

He can do anything he wants. He can use deodorant or not use deodorant. He can brush his teeth or not brush his teeth. He got all kinds of choices he can make. God doesn’t make him. but God wants him to go to heaven. So God can, without violating his will, seek to influence him. God can allow this young man to walk into this service this morning, and God is seeking him. God says that he seeks to save that which was lost.

He’s the good shepherd that’s looking for the lost sheep. And he wants it used to go to heaven. And he can influence him by him being here this morning here in this message and he can decide. He said, sir, and he listens and he can decide whether or not will I believe it or not believe it. But there’s a God in heaven that knows this man is lost and this man can go to heaven if this man chooses to go to heaven.

But God will not make him trust him. You see, before the foundations of the world, the Bible teaches that God, like with a telescope looking down through time, God has already predetermined in advance every person that will believe it will go to heaven. And those that will not believe it won’t go to heaven. That’s because God is God. But just because of God knows what a man’s going to do, God doesn’t make the person do it. God may know that you’re going to rob the 7-Eleven store tomorrow.

But God is not the author of sin, and God doesn’t pre-determine you to rob a 7-Eleven store to take somebody’s life. God doesn’t make you do wrong. God doesn’t make people sin. The Bible says God does not sin and cannot tempt any man to sin. So God has never tempted anybody to ever sin. Never has the devil does. You have a sinful nature within you that leads you astray and seduces you. Yeah. But this man can hear the message and he can decide, I’ll trust Christ as my Savior.

And God said, if you’ll trust him, he’ll save him. And God is not a respecter person. God doesn’t love this man any more than that person, that person, that person, that person. They’re all the same. He’s not a respecter of persons. He says, anybody who soever will believe it, have everlasting life. If he trusts Christ as Savior, he goes to heaven. He rejects Christ, he goes to hell. And that God that made a payment for the sins of the world, he saved me, I’ll go to heaven.

If he rejects Christ, he goes to hell. Who did he love more? He loved me more? No. He loves us both the same. He made a payment equally for us. What God did for one person in this world, he did for every person in this world. God loves you. He loves you. Always remember that. God seeks to get the lost man to believe but does not make him. God seeks his children to serve him but will allow them to rebel.

You see God is not making everybody do whatever he wants them to do. God is not that fatalistic. God in his sovereignty chose to give you and I a choice or will so that we can make up our own minds. It makes sense to me. I couldn’t see there’s no tricks to it. There’s no gimmicks to this. I didn’t have to stop something. I didn’t have to join anything. I didn’t have to give anything. I didn’t have to promise how I’m going to live.

I didn’t have to stop doing something that I was doing. I had to just admit what I am. I am a sinner and he loved me and he died from me. And if I trust him, he would save me, give me eternal life. And I made that decision. I also made another one. I’m going to serve the Lord, not because I have to, but because I want to. The destination of believers is predetermined. It means that God has already predetermined that everybody who believes on Christ, they go to heaven.

That was decided before you ever born, before you ever did any good or bad. It doesn’t mean that God chose this one and God chose that one and God chose you. God said, this message is for everybody in the world. And God has already decided that everyone that will believe in Christ, they’ll go to heaven, and those that won’t, won’t go. And it’s not based upon, can you live good enough for the rest of your life? Because if it did, you couldn’t make it.

Neither could I. It will never be good enough. I wasn’t before and I’m not now. But God loves us. Look at this next statement. God knows everything. Shafer made this statement. He knows perfectly and eternally all that is knowable, whether actual or possible. Even when Christ was here, He says, if the miracles that had been done in Capernaum had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have remained unto this day. In other words, He knows what would have happened if you hadn’t got married.

He knows what would have happened to you if you took the other job. He knows what would have happened if you lived in another city or if you had never trusted Christ. He knows everything that is actual, factual, and possible. Have you ever wondered, I wonder what would have happened if I’d have bought that piece of land 20 years ago, what I could have made today. Wonder what would have happened if I could have bought those stocks and I didn’t do it.

God knows all the variations, the variables, the possibilities. It is God’s will that all go to be with Him in heaven. That’s His will. It is God’s will that all believers walk worthy under good works. You see you and I that trust Christ as Savior, it’s God’s will that you and I serve Him, but not everybody will. You may have trusted Christ as your Savior and you will defy the will of God. God doesn’t get everything God wants. That’s hard to understand.

I mean God is sovereign. He can do anything He wants to do, but He chose out of love to give you and I the opportunity to voluntarily choose whether or not do I love God? He said, if you love me, serve me. If you love me, it shall be known of you. I made it my mind years ago. I love the Lord. And I’m gonna prove that I love the Lord by living my life for Him. I wanna be just like the Lord as much as I possibly can.

But I’m not doing it so I can compare myself with anybody else. It’s not based upon whether you do or you don’t. It’s because of what He did for me. He died on the cross. He paid for my sins. He’s given me eternal life. and I’m going to heaven whenever I die. And I want to honor Him and I want to serve Him all the days of my life. I want people to know who I want them to be.

My Christ. Look at the next statement. Man became chosen ones to believe, result of their choice, not to be. And second, God has chosen you through faith. God chose us because we put our faith in him. That’s how you get to be one of the chosen ones. That’s how you got to be one of the elect. is how you got to be one of the beloved, because you allowed God to love you. Grace is the main bahavor say, it’s what out works.

And God loves us so much, he says, for by grace are you saved, through faith that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not a works list, any man should boast. And he says that his grace is to all and is for everybody. It doesn’t exclude anybody. Grace is resistible. Not all men are saved. Not everybody is going to be because people have been given a choice. They can reject His salvation. You can reject Jesus Christ. You can reject.

You don’t have to believe the Bible is true. You don’t have to believe it. God sent His Son died on the cross. You don’t have to believe it. Nobody’s going to make it. Even God ain’t gonna make you, but it made sense to me. This is you and me, and this is sin. We all have sin upon us. God loves us. He hates our sin, but he loves us. And for you and I to go to heaven, we have to be perfect as righteous as God.

And this is the problem. We’re all sinners. We can’t save ourselves. And God says that the payment for that sin is death in hell. And the Lord says that we did it, we have to pay for it. We’re already condemned. The sin represents Jesus Christ, He’s God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us. But He hates our sin. Our sin separates us from the Lord. So what He did is He took the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead, and said that if you and I, we would believe He did this for us.

See it’s a personal thing. Not between you and me or you and somebody else, always between you and God. You may believe this and never tell a soul. you would, but you could trust Christ as Savior, never say a word. You don’t have to raise your hand, you don’t have to come down at a front, you don’t have to sign a card, you don’t have to do anything outward. It’s all done within your mind between you and God. God’s the one that knows whether or not you really believe Him.

That’s why you can’t make a mistake this way. You don’t become a religious hypocrite because you’re not claiming to be something you’re not. You are a sinner, so am I. And Jesus Christ paid for our sin and He said, If we believe He did it for usreek give us a free Middlesex, everlasting life. We go to heaven on what He did for us. Who gets all the glory from Me 😉 going to heaven? Him. What have I done? Nothing.

I wasn’t good enough before to save myself and I’m still not.>>>> I You’veorage 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 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 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’re closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friends, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

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

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

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.

In John chapter 4, look there in verse 14. But whosoever drinketh of the water that underlined these four words, I shall give him. I shall give. Whosoever drinketh, it’s just another way of explaining the gospel of it’s just simply believing, receiving. she was at the well and she was drinking water from the well. And he simply used a simple illustration. If you drink the water that’s in this well, you shall thirst again. Means you’re going to have to have some more.

That’s the religions of the world because they can get thirsty, quench your thirst and then get thirsty again, quench your thirst, get thirsty. He said, I got some water. When you drink this water, you’ll never thirst again. Means you don’t have to do it again. I wonder what that refers to. It’s a reference to your eternal salvation that once you trust Christ’s Savior, you don’t have to get saved again and again and again because it’s forever. This is a wonderful thing, a great verse to use with an individual and that if you drink it, you will receive something.

Means if you believe, you take it in and it will donces supposed to do. John chapter 5 verse 24. Chapter 5 and verse 24. Now I listed all these salvation verses down through here because I wanted you to have a copy of them. I want you to start memorizing not all the verses in the Bible, not all the books in the Bible. Isn’t it nice to know all the books in the Bible? So whenever I say turn to this book you can go right to that book but this is better than knowing the books of the Bible.

I’d rather you know a few salvation verses that you might be able to really use to explain to somebody because you can always say now look at this verse look at this verse look what God says and it’ll help you tremendously. Look in John now in chapter 5 John chapter 5 in verse 24 he says barely barely that means truthfully truthfully God cannot lie. I say unto you he that heareth my word and believe it on him that sent me and your underline this, half everlasting life.

If you have something and you didn’t have it before and you got it now, something had to bring it. So when you were an unbeliever, you did not have eternal life. Now that you are a believer, you should be able to say, I have eternal life. When you believe it, you got it. And the only reason you got it is because he gave it. And the only reason he gave it is because you believed it. See how simple God is.

Remember these are the verses and the wisdom of the greatest of all time. There’s nobody greater than God. And look how simple God explains it. Now you tell me how come majority of people have to make it so hard and complicated for people to understand. not say that you must come even as a little child, childlike faith, that that means that even a little child can understand what you’re talking about. You don’t have to be hard and complicated and so deep, some people go down so deep and stay down so long and come up so dry.

But this is a fountain of living water and get the last part of that. Half everlasting life shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death in the life. Let me ask you the question. When do you receive this eternal life? If you get saved and you think, a lot of times people say, well, let’s don’t worry about this eternal life business. Let’s just get them saved. Okay, you got them saved. When did he get this eternal life?

When is he supposed to find out he has eternal life? When do you think God wants a man to know when he has eternal life? Ten years down the road, twenty years down the road, next week. When should a lost man who accepts Christ supposed to know when he has eternal life? Shouldn’t him trust in Christ be the reason of wanting eternal life be the reason he trusts Christ? Why would a man trust Christ if there isn’t a place to shun and a place to go to?

What would be his motive? There is no hell. And I don’t know where I’m going with that. Why trust the Lord? For what? What’s that doing? So being saved means something, means I’m saved from something to something. I can’t be saved from something unless I’m saved to something and it has to be the very moment. So he makes this statement, you and you believe it, you have everlasting life. Look in John chapter six and verse 35. John chapter six verse 35.

There is a difference in the word of God about coming to Christ and coming after Christ. Look up here. Coming to Christ, trusting Christ is saved. You’re coming to Him to be saved. Coming after Christ means that He is going, and you’re following Him. That’s service. Coming to Christ’s salvation. Follow Him after Him at service. So when he says, follow me, refer to service. So when you come to Christ, that’s for salvation. Now, there is maybe one exception found in the book of John chapter 10 where he says, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me.

Now, whether or not that salvation or service, we’ll get to that when we cover John chapter 10 in total. Well here in John and chapter 5, look in verse 35. Verse 35 says, And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh after me. Is that what it says? He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. I wonder what the word never means. You ever heard somebody say, what part of no don’t you understand?

What do you think never would mean? Never? It means never, never, ever. Never is never. Meaning it can’t happen then if God says never. If I believe I’ll never thirst. That means I’ll never thirst. See how hard it is to understand the Bible. You’re never hungry must mean that you’ll never hunger. That’s how I interpret it means what it says So he makes a statement. I am the bread of life and he that come up to me Shall never hunger because he’s the bread of life and whenever you eat this bread He says you’ll never have to do it again.

That’s the teaching of eternal security Now look what he said in verse 37 Verse 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that come to me, I will and no wise cast out. So when you come to him, he says, all that the Father giveth me the word give. And then you’ll also find that word mentioned down in verse 39. Giveth me. You see, whenever you trusted Christ as your Savior, it’s because God so loved you.

He sent His Son. So you’re believing this story that He did this for you. And so when you believe this, the Bible says you’re born of God. You’re a child of God. He becomes your Father. And the Father is going to take all the children that came to Him and give you to Christ. So you belong to Him. And He says, then, Alan, no wise, I’ll never lose you. Never cast you out. So on verse 37, is this a good verse to show a person that once you come to Christ and you trust Him as your Savior, that He’ll never cast you out, never lose you?

You hear me say it all the time, and I use this with people all the time. This is a tremendous verse to learn. Verse 37, verse 39, this is the Father’s will which have sent me that of all which He had given me, I should lose nothing. Is He talking about you? Yes, He’s talking about me. So He’ll never cast you out, He’ll never lose you. So He’ll never cast me out, never lose me. So I have eternal life and I’ll never hunger and I’ll never thirst again.

I’m His child forever and ever. See, the lot of people in this world, they don’t know these simple verses. They don’t know them. I remember one time I talked to a Catholic priest. When I was in Colorado, I was downstairs in an enterprise Grange building. I was painting my chart. I was working on my chart. Had most of it done. It looked clean back then. It looked brand new. Well, it was brand new. Oh, did it look pretty? But this was back in 1971, something like that, 72.

And he was looking for somebody and he came in the door and I was in there working on it. And I looked pathetic. I had pain all over me. And he was trying to find something. I said, sir, I don’t know where that is, but I know how to get to heaven. He said, you know how to get to heaven? I said, yes, I do. I said, do you know how to get to heaven? He said, well, I think so.

I said, well, let me ask you a question. If you were to die right now, where would you go? He said, well, the best I can hope for is purgatory. This is the father. He’s the priest. How does it call on backwards? And I says, the best you can hope for is purgatory. Isn’t that something the pope just died and the best he could hope for was purgatory? And there is no such place. The will is talking about what a great man he was.

He was not, he was a deceiver. He was fooled. He’s not everything that everybody says he was. If he had never trusted Christ as his Savior, if the Bible is true, And he believed what he says he believes, the man didn’t go to heaven. He’s like, how can you say something like that? I’m not the judge. I just tell you what the Bible said. God says, this is what you have to believe. And by their own statements about believing the teaches of the Roman Catholic Church, this is not what they believe.

That man cannot forgive one sin unless you’re sent against him. He can forgive you for what you did wrong to him, but he can’t forgive you for what you did somebody else. Let alone God. And so I explained the gospel and then what when I finished the class says, have you ever seen this before? He says, I’ve never seen any of these verses before. These verses I’m talking right here. I’ve showed too many of the Bible. He said, I’ve never seen these verses.

He says, no, I’ve never read a Bible. Never read the Bible. And here’s all these people that come to the Catholic Church and he’s up there speaking to them in the Latin and a language they can’t understand. Now they got to where they speak and do a lot of in English, but he didn’t have no clue. Blind leading the blind. I was over here at St. Mary’s one day and I was checking out their chapel. I had a few little minutes to kill and this lady walks in and I says, can I ask your question?

She said, well, sure. I said, are you Catholic? She says, yes. And I knew she was. I said, well, can I ask your question? She said, well, sure. I says, where are you going to go when you die? She says, I’m, I hope I’m going to heaven. I hope I hope I hope. She said, three, four, I hope I hope I hope. They don’t know these simple things that you know right here and take for granted. So well, everybody’s heard that.

No, they haven’t. A lot of people don’t know that majority of people sit in the motion, they don’t know the simplicity, these simple little things. And this is why, see, we want to explain it to people. We want people to understand what God’s done for them. It is so important. Look in verse 47, verse 47, it says in verse 47, Verily, verily, I send you, he that believeth on me, hath everlasting life. There is not too many people that I lead to the Lord that I don’t show them this verse.

This is one of my favorite verses along with 1 John 5, 13. What this verse I use all the time. You can’t get it any simpler than that. He that believeth on me, hath everlasting life. If you believe this, you receive this. believing and receiving. So why should a person believe on Christ if they don’t think their Father receives something? I receive forgiveness of my sins. I got a payment for other things that I’ve ever done wrong. I don’t go to hell, I go to heaven, I have eternal life, I’ve received a lot.

I think you ought to know what you’re getting for what you’re giving. You’re giving your faith to Christ. You believe he did that for me. What does God say he’s gonna give you if you’ll do this? He said, I’m gonna give you this gift of eternal life. And I’ll never cast you out and I’ll never lose you. Best thing in all the world. He goes on down through hearing and talks a lot about the eating of the flesh and drinking the blood, but he’s not talking about literally eating his flesh.

He’s not talking about literally drinking his blood. He’s not talking about you becoming a vampire or cannibalism. He’s talking about the words. He says the words, look there in verse 63. He said in verse 63, it is the spirit that quick enough or makes alive. The flesh propheteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit. They are life. The Bible that you read is a spiritual book. These are spiritual seeds. And so you’re taking the sword of the spirit, the word of God.

You’ll see that in the book of Ephesians. The sword of the spirit is the word of God. It’s the sword that the spirit you’re the word. So you take the word and you plant it into a person’s mind. And the Bible says if they believe it, it’s life. These are seeds. So you sow the word because you’re sow in seeds. And you don’t know what’s going to grow. Some of the seed falls upon good ground. Some on stony ground.

Some with briars and thorns. Some will grow and some will not. Some will grow and be choked out. But you’re to believe that this is a powerful book. And this book can change your life. Whatever the word of God is, it can make you. If the word of God is sharp and powerful, it can make you sharp and powerful. If you believe it has no life, and to you if it becomes, you could have come dull up here, then your whole life becomes dull.

That’s when your life becomes dull and boring. You ever hear people use that? It’s dull and boring. Well, that is because you don’t believe it. You really believe this and you apply this, it’ll make your life more exciting, more interesting, more challenging. And I agree because I know there’s so many people who miss out on the best things that God has to offer. Remember, he said, I came not just to give you life but that you may have life more abundantly, John chapter 10, abundant life, abundant living, more than what just meets the eye.

Look in chapter 11 of John, chapter 11, and verse 26. When talking to the lady at the funeral of Lazarus, talking to Mary and Martha, but especially Martha, she was always kind of like outspoken, more challenging. She’s the hard worker. Mary was kind of quiet and just do her things, sitting at the feet of the Lord, but everybody’s different. Not everybody’s the same. But he says here in verse 27, she said to him, “‘Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God which should come into the world, I believe.”

And the reason she says, I believe because he had asked her the question. He said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on me shall never die. Believe this, Stalves, do you believe this? Do you think it was important what she believes? He says, do you believe this? This is what you have to believe. Look at one in closing, John chapter 10 and verse 28. Verse 28. When it says in verse 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.

They follow me, we’ll win. Well, when you’re his sheep, this is cause you’ve already come to him. But anyway, verse 28, and I give unto them, those words you ought to know I give unto them. Undolent, I give unto them. What does he give unto them? The, his sheep. He gives those who are his sheep of his pasture, he gives them something. What did he give them? He give them eternal life. And I wrote out beside this verse in my Bible in big capital letters with a question mark the end of it.

I give unto them eternal life, win, because win is very important. A lot of people think eternal life begins when you die, or whenever you become mature. Eternal life is your present possession that you have the very moment that you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall, that means in the future, in the future shall in the future never perish. That means it’s impossible for you to perish to be lost to go to hell in the future.

Well, when did I get my eternal life? When I believed that very moment you believe it, you have it. And in the future you’ll never be, listen, you may know all of this, but has there been a time in your life where you’ve had that wonderful joy of explaining that to somebody? Sit down with somebody and just go through it. And I know it’s difficult. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to do. But it would be a shame that if you had a chance, And a person say it was dying and you didn’t know what to do.

I want you to know because I know that one of these days we’re going to all be in heaven and I want you to have the privilege of saying I led this one to the Lord of that one trusted Lord. And so as we said last week, not everybody has, you know, the same courage or boldness or whatever it is. But I do believe even though you’re afraid and scared half the death of poor presentation would be better than no presentation.

Even if you stumble through it and make a mistake. If you hold back because you’re afraid that you’re gonna mess it up, where are they going? How much can you mess it up? I don’t think that any of you in this room would ever tell a person you got to be good to go to heaven. But you might accidentally come out and say, you know, it’s a gift of God. All you got to do is trust Christ is your Savior.

You might just warm them up and somebody else will come along and they’ll pick that fruit and they’re right because you sowed some seeds. So you start that you got to win the world. I can’t win the world. I can’t be guaranteed I’ll win anybody, but I do believe this. I’ll win more if I do witness than if I don’t. that make sense? I know that if I follow Christ, he says, I will make you fishers of men. You say, well, you can fish for men, but that’s not a guarantee you’re going to catch some.

But then he turns around and says, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. Thou shalt catch men’s means not only are you going to fish, you’re going to catch fish. I fish, but I don’t catch nobody. Betty’s dad came in the house one day and I was sitting there and I was balling He said, what’s wrong with you? I said, because God doesn’t care about souls. He said, what? I said, God doesn’t care. God doesn’t care. He doesn’t care if they go to heaven or hell.

He says, what’s wrong with you this time? There’s always something. I said, because I witnessed and I witnessed and nobody trusts the Lord. I said, so if I’m doing my part, why ain’t God doing his part? I was so mad, frustrated, filled with anger, hurt, and yet I cared. I didn’t want people to go to health and I just didn’t for two years. As I know, I don’t think I let one soul to learn. But I talked to people.

In a little bit of my little, I found out it was my approach. It was the way I was doing it. I wasn’t making it simple. I was, and somebody asked the door. I said, are you saved? I remember when God looked at me straight and he says, from what? I’ll pray for you. Now I go to the next door. And I ask him, I’ll sit here, you saved. He says, yes I am. So it’s good. OK. I didn’t know what to tell him, but I can’t figure out.

I’m witnessing. And just like a lot of priests today, perhaps, they’re faithful and given an invitation. But given an invitation is not the same thing as given the gospel. I was just, I didn’t see it. I remember one illustration I gave when I was speaking in a rescue mission down in Union gospel mission down in Shreveport, Louisiana. And there’s these guys, these winos from off the street. And I had listened to enough of the preachers coming here and I thought, well, I guess that’s the way you pose it to it.

And I said, here you are. I could dramatize pretty good. You’re hanging over this cliff and you’re grabbing hold this root and it breaks. You grab ahold of this root and it breaks. You grab ahold of another and you know that you’re going. It’s not going to take much and you’re going to go. And I say, you cry out, God save me, save me. And I says, and this angel appears behind you. And this angel says, do you believe I can save you?

Yes I do. And the angel says, do you want meudicy to save you? He says, let go of the root and I’ll catch you before you fall. And I says, this is because someDenver hanging under your sins. You gotta be willing to let go of your sins. I preached that. You gotta let go of your sins. And God will save you. But as long as you hang on to your sin, God ain’t gonna save you. Does any of you difference in telling somebody got a turn from your sin to be saved?

So the man says, will you save me? Yes, I’ll save you. Let go. Anybody else up there? Well, I found out that I wasn’t making it as clear as I could. And this is why I harp on this, because I just want people to be simple, be clear, tell people what God says on how to have eternal life. And it says, and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Here’s God, here’s you. You trust Christ, He saves you. He said, I’ll never cast you out. I will never lose you and you can’t get out. Nobody can pluck you out of his hand. So how long would you be safe? You’re safe and secure for all eternity. The reason does make it simple and clear is so that you can have a tool. You don’t know how to use some of these verses. Just explain it to somebody. Find just determine your mind this week, this week, not this week you’re gonna find you a victim you’re gonna corner somebody somehow somewhere some way you’re not gonna trust the preacher you’re not gonna call the preacher to go talk to anybody you’re gonna find somebody surely there’s someone that you know that doesn’t know the Lord and you’re gonna ask them and fear and trembling I want you to do it just just one person but

you’re going to ask that person. If you anybody take the Bible and show you how to have eternal life. Isn’t that an easy question? Have you ever had anybody take the Bible and show you how to have eternal life? Well, I don’t have a Bible, but I have this little track. Let me just show you this here. It says you can know you have eternal life. Let me explain this to you. I used to always think you had to be good to go there.

Tell them what you thought, what you found out, what you did. You can do this. You can do this thing. And I tell you, it, uh, rest news inoreAnd the world. Don’tois believe it’s good news? I’ll take this same sermonEls and in maybe a couple months from now Urugu etooth it’ll be on the radio and it, it could be to hundred thousand people that will hear this very same sermon. See, that’s when we can go beyond the walls of our church.

But, see, I’m not interested in just that. There’s opportunities that every individual have that, you know, you’re not going to ever get them to church. They’ll never dock in the doors of any church. Yet you may be working with them. You may see them someplace. It could be a neighbor. It could be anybody. And there might be one person. and some little kid. Look up here. This is you and me. This is sin. We all have sin upon us.

God says that He loves us and that He hates our sin. He says, for God so loved the world, that’s you and me. But we’ve all sinned and we all have to die. Turn on separation from God in a place called hell. But God wants us to go to heaven. That’s why He gave His Son Jesus Christ so that we could have eternal life. But we can’t go to heaven because of our sin. So the Bible says that we cannot save We cannot earn eternal life.

He says it’s%” a gift.” This then represents Jesus Christ. He’s got enough. I came to the world because He loves us and 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 give us a free gift and will last you life. And we get to go to heaven on what He did for us. Let’s pray, shall we?

You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s prayer. 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 Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen, the trumpet will sound, and we will be changed.

Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking 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 can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3. 3, 7, 7, 1. 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.

Turn to the book of Matthew, chapter 7, Matthew and chapter 7. talking about believing and receiving. Why should any man ask God for anything if he doesn’t believe that God is going to hear or to answer or that he’s not going to receive anything? That is what faith is all about. Faith is believing God. And so he says you have not because you ask not. So there’s many things that we perhaps will not have in this life because we will fail to ask God for it.

I believe that it’s the will of God for us to have a lot of things, to enjoy things. I was reading in the book of Ecclesiastes earlier this morning, and it was kind of refreshing my mind about all the things of life and the vanity of life. That what’s the purpose? What’s the goal? What do you accomplish? Even if a man that works hard all his life makes much wealth and then when he dies he leads it to somebody else who didn’t work for it and he says all his vanity and vexation of spirit.

It kind of gives you the view of what it’s like to live life under the sun means as a lost man as a man that doesn’t know God but you and I are supposed to be a little different we know the Lord so our choices should be better. We should make greater decisions. And like I said the other night on Sunday night, the perfect will of God lies in the next decision that you make. Or I should say the out of the will of God can lie in the very next decision you make.

Because you see the will of God is the choices that you make. There is either a divine perspective or a human perspective. So as you look at life through the eyes of God, you will make better choices. If you look at it through the human eye as a man under the sun in this life as though God does not exist, then you’re going to see things differently, different perspective, different choices. So the reason we study the Bible is to know the difference, to know what are the advantages of making godly decisions.

So the Bible is the Word of God. He’s given it to us and says, I want you to ask. I want you to seek. I want you to knock. Because he said, I want you to find. I want you to receive. Then he used the illustration there in verse 11, if ye then be an evil, mean they be man as a sinner. He’s a lost man. Every man in the world. Know how to give good gifts unto your children.

How much more? And you are on the line those verses in your Bible those words. How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him? So prayer is asking and receiving. So the Bible tells us many things about the divine promises of God and this is one of the reasons you studied the Bible so that you can discern what they are so that you can ask for more. And it’s not always asking for things in the world, the accumulation of wealth.

It also refers to the blessings of God upon you spiritually. Because you and I know, my purpose in life is not just to accumulate things in life because I’m not going to stay here forever. This is just temporary. I want things for eternity. Did you know that when you asked the Lord, Lord, I wish you would heal my body. I got this problem, this problem, this problem, and I want you to heal my body. So you expect God to heal your body.

You ask Him, didn’t you? Well, Lord, I need this and I need that. And so you can ask God for a lot of things. Do you know the answer to a lot of those things may not come just in this life. If you died today and you were in heaven, and that moment you’re in heaven, Do you have a new body? You don’t hurt anymore. All your needs are met. You have peace, joy, no pressures, no problems, no heartaches, no sinful nature.

See how God answered your prayer. But you said, well, I want that here. Well, in this life, we’re called to suffer. We suffer while we’re here. So the proper things to ask from God are the things to help you to go through the things you go through. To use it wisely to ask the Lord for the grace that you need to bear those things. We were discussing last Wednesday night and last Sunday night about the great Apostle Paul and what he went through in his Christian life.

God did not deliver him from all the things that happened to him. God let him go right through the middle of it. But at the end of it, there was always a lost man. There was a lost woman. There was somebody at the end where God was directed him to. And this is the same thing for you and for me. So I want you to take your notes there and you’ll look at the first part of them. Believing and receiving.

You’ll notice from the following simple salvation verses the relationship between the various forms of believing and having eternal life. Now you already know the Lord. You trust that Christ is your Savior. One of the greatest things you can do in this life is to desire that God would use you to be a blessing to other people. Now being a blessing to other people isn’t that you just made them happy, that you made them joyful, that you entertained, you kept them out of trouble or you gave them some money.

Those are wonderful things to do but to really be a blessing to people. You should want them to have the blessing that was placed upon Abraham. And anybody know what the blessing of Abraham is? That you may be blessed with faithful Abraham. To be blessed with faithful Abraham is to be justified by faith. So the one of the greatest blessings you can ever be to any person in the world is that message that you’ve been blessed to hear. So what I simply want you to do this morning is we’re not talking about you becoming grounded in the gospel.

You already know the gospel. But how that you might use simple verses that are already there to your advantage. See it’s one thing to have a knowledge of the Bible and then it’s another thing to have a working knowledge or your knowledge works for you. So that whenever you read the verse it’s not so much a matter of interpretation. It’s a matter of simply maybe just explaining what’s already there, very simply. Or letting a verse say what it says.

Many times I’ve led people to Lord by telling them what the verse doesn’t say. And sometimes I misquote scripture. But I want you to turn to John chapter 3 there in your Bible, the Gospel of John in chapter 3. You know that Jesus is talking to Nicodemus. As he talks to Nicodemus, he had asked the question about how a man is to be born again, not born again, born again. And he was telling him some things that he ought to know that he ought to understand, especially being a teacher himself, a leader.

And he makes a statement. He says they’re in verse 15, that whosoever believe it in him should not perish. generally we always reverse 16. But see look at verse 15. This is the verse that he’s using to explain to a very religious man on how to be born again because that was the question. How should a man be born when he is old? So Jesus is telling them. This is the answer to that hard difficult question. It’s a simple answer that most people do not know.

They don’t know the answer. And so he says verse 15, whosesoever, believe it in him, should not perish but have. And where has the word have you ought to underline it because it’s talking about you doing something and you receiving something. If you’ll do this you’ll get this. So as you read the Bible shouldn’t you expect to get something for what you did? He He says, if you do this, you have this. Well, I did that. Did you get this?

So you can claim something because you did what it took to get it. That is faith. Faith is taking God at His Word. How many times I’ve talked to individuals who said, oh, I trusted Christ as my Savior. Do you have eternal life? Well, I don’t know. Then they don’t understand. He says, if you believe this, you’ve got this. You say, well, I believe this, but I don’t know if I got this. He says, then you don’t believe this.

this, you don’t believe it. He said, if you believe it, you have it. You’ve got it. But now notice what he says in verse 14. He uses the illustration of the Old Testament because he could not say to Nicodemus. Nicodemus, let me show you John 3 16. How come? Why couldn’t he tell him? Let me show you John 3 16. It wasn’t written. All they had was the Old Testament. They didn’t have Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. None of the books in the New Testament.

All have was the old ten so he used the Old Testament stories to illustrate the truth. He said even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness and all they had to do that were bitten by the snake was look and be saved. That’s why I had to look and live. That’s all. He said and as Moses lifted up that serpent in the wilderness even so must the son of man be lifted up so that whosoever would look will live.

Pretty simple isn’t it? And that’s all all they had to do. How many people in the world had been bitten by the snake? Everybody. You see, Satan is the serpent and everybody had been bitten and his poison has been placed into the vein and we’re all dying because of the bite of Satan. And that’s why when you read this and you look for the simple things, don’t try to make the Bible more complex than it is harder to understand than what it is.

I have been in meetings where I’ve listened to preachers and they will take a verse like this and they will say, now in the Greek, this word means and he breaks it down and says in the past tense and this tense and that tense and by the time he spends 15 minutes on that one word when he gets all through, it simply says what it already says right here. What was all that for? Boy, that really impresses you. I know Hebrew and Greek.

I know a little Greek. He runs a restaurant down on the corner. Just go about what it already says. Already been interpreted. All we have to is read it and believe it. And so you don’t have to see it. You say, well, that’s the key to really knowing the Bible. Well, the people who crucified Christ, they spoke Greek. I didn’t make them wise. The Jewish people spoke Hebrew and Aramaic. That didn’t make them smarter just because they could speak the language.

Why are we so impressed today? If they could speak the language, that means you understand the Bible better. You don’t. You still got to believe what’s already written and is written here as simple and as clearly as possible can be. Look what he says now in verse 16. For God so loved the world. Isn’t that hard to understand? Look how complex that is. You can explain this even to a child. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, that whosoever believe it.

Whosoever is an open invitation to anybody. Whosoever believe it in Him should not perish. That means go to hell. But have, present tense, right now, have everlasting life. That means go to heaven. So you see whenever you show somebody these verses, just let the verse say what it does. You don’t really have to do much explaining. Just say, look, see what it says? Look what it says. And if you was accepting there and they’re explaining it to somebody. Pretending your mind you’re sitting at a kitchen table or on a couch and you’re sharing it with someone.

You got your Bible and you learn some salvation verses. There’ll be verses in the Bible you know they’re all over the place but you can’t find them you don’t know where they are but you know it’s in there somewhere but none of it works for you. It’s better to get a few salvation verses and learn how to explain them very well and then find a victim and explain it to them. And then you just have to take a look at this first.

Now look at them. You say, well, I don’t want to be no preacher. I’m not talking about you being a preacher, like behind a pulpit and hollering rant and raving. I’m just talking about to be explained to somebody. You don’t have any idea that they may come. You may be the only person that stands between this person and death and them here in the gospel. And there’s nobody else to get. And you’re the only one. Wouldn’t it be a shame if you don’t know what to say?

You freeze up because you don’t remember any verses. You know they’re in there but you don’t know where they are and you can’t explain it. So you study and you work, it’s work, but it’s the work of the Lord. It’s what God wants us to be able to do. Now in that last part of the verse, if you believe you have something, what do you have? You have everlasting life. So it’s believing and receiving. Look at the next verse.

Look in John 3, 36, John 3, 36. He that believed it on the sun, half everlasting life. If you believe, what do you have, ever lasting life? You believe it, you’ve got it. But look at the contrary part, the negative part. And he that believeth not the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. In your mind, though you may not tell a person how you’re going to hell, you need to understand that if they haven’t trusted Christ, they will.

Though you have to be careful how you tell somebody. You know, I’ve had people say, well, who made you to judge? I said, I’m not the judge, I can sure tell you what the judge said. I’ve read Judges reports before. I’ve read jury report. I mean, think the people who read cases. I’ve gone to law libraries. I’ve read a lot of them, but I’m not speaking for the John to say, this is what he said. This is the verdict here and this is why and so forth.

I’m just, this is what the judge said. This is what God said. So is it important or not important? It is important. And that’s why we need to understand them. So in John chapter four, look there in verse 10, you know the simple story. Jesus says he must needs to go through some Mary. Why? Because there was a woman there. And remember this, this woman had been married five times. She was now living with a man that was not her husband.

Did Jesus already know that? Yes. Can she be saved? Yes. Can anybody be saved? Yeah, doesn’t matter how bad they are, Regards a what they’ve done or what they’re doing God still loves them then they can still be saved You see Christ did not tell her you’ve got a Stop your sinning in order to be safe. He never even told her that he never said you have to give up the man You’re living with Now, I know a lot of preachers don’t like that, but you find it Do you read the whole story and see if you find it in there?

It’s not there But what he did say was this look in verse 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God, you ought to underline the words gift of God. It is the gift of God. He said, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that speaketh unto you, give me to drink and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou would have asked you ought to underline the word ask and he would have and you ought to underline the word given.

You ask, you can receive. You ask and he’ll give. That’s all she had to do. Women, women, well what about this man you’re living with? What does it say? Well, the nut she ever did anything about that. I don’t know if she did or not. Because it wasn’t an issue. You see, Christ’s death on the cross paid for all the sins of the world. Is it the will of God that a person lived a godly life? Well, of course.

Is it God’s will for you and I to live a godly life? Yes. Shall we turn from all those wicked bad things that we do? Of course. But not to be saved. Not to get this eternal life that he’s talking about. And you need to know simple verses that says it so clearly. And as he says right here, if thou knewest the gift of God, who it is that safter thee give me to dream, you would have asked of him.

He would have. He would have all you had to do is ask and she could have had what eternal life it was only by the asking asking is simply by believing it reason you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ because of what you can get remember where’s the lost man going when he dies the hell all right you don’t want to go to hell you You want to go to heaven and Christ says, if you simply believe, I won’t go there, I will go there.

And just by believing it, that’s the form of asking. Prayer is asking and believing. And so you believe it, you receive something. Now get what else you say. Look there in verse 14. 14. But whosoever drinketh of the water that underlined these four words, I shall give him. I shall give. Whosoever drinketh, I shall, it’s just another way of explaining the gospel. It’s just simply believing, receiving. Because she was at the well and she was drinking water from the well.

And he simply used a simple illustration. If you drink the water that’s in this well, you shall thirst again. Means you’re going to have to have some more. That’s the religions of the world. Because they can get thirsty, quench your thirst, and then get thirsty again, quench your thirst, get thirsty. He said, I got some more. water. When you drink this water, you’ll never thirst again. Means you don’t have to do it again. I wonder what that refers to.

It’s a reference to your eternal salvation that once you trust Christ as Savior, you don’t have to get saved again and again and again because it’s forever. This is a wonderful thing, a great verse to use with an individual and that if you drink it, it, you will receive something. It means if you believe, you take it in and it will do what it’s supposed to do. Look in John chapter 5 verse 24. Chapter 5 and verse 24. Now I listed all these salvation verses down through here because I wanted you to have a copy of them.

I want you to start memorizing not all the verses in the Bible, not all the books in the Bible. Isn’t it nice to know all the books in the Bible? So whenever I say turn to this book, you can go right to that book. But this is better than knowing the books of the Bible. I’d rather you know a few salvation verses that you might be able to really use to explain to somebody because you can always say, now look at this verse.

Look at this verse. Look what God says and it’ll help you tremendously. Look in John now in chapter 5. John chapter fire. In verse 24, he says, Verily, Verily, that means truthfully, truthfully, God cannot lie. I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believe it on him that sent me, and you ought to underline this, hat everlasting life. If you have something, and you didn’t have it before, and you got it now, something had to bring it.

So when you were an Unbeliever you did not have eternal life now that you are a believer you should be able to say I have eternal life When you believe it you got it and no reason you got it is because he gave it and no reason he gave it is because you believed it South simple God is remember these are the verses and the wisdom of the greatest of all time There’s nobody greater than God and look how simple God explains it Now you tell me how come majority of people have to make it so hard and complicated for people to understand?

Did he not say that you must come even as a little child, childlike faith? That that means that even a little child can understand what you’re talking about. You don’t have to be hard and complicated and so deep. people go down so deep and stay down so long and come up so dry. But this is a fountain of living water and get the last part of that. Half everlasting life shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death and the life.

Let me ask you the question. When do you receive this eternal life? If you get saved and you You think, a lot of times people say, well let’s don’t worry about this eternal life business. Let’s just get him saved. Okay, you got him saved. When did he get this eternal life? When is he supposed to find out he has eternal life? When do you think God wants a man to know when he has eternal life? Ten years down the road?

Twenty years down the road? Next week? He should have lost man who accepts Christ supposed to know when he has eternal life. Shouldn’t him trust in Christ be the reason, or want in eternal life be the reason he trusts Christ? Why would a man trust Christ if there isn’t a place to shun and a place to go to? What would be his motive? There is no hell. And I don’t know where I’m going without I. Why trust the Lord?

For what? What’s that doing? So being saved means something, means I’m saved from something to something. I can’t be saved from something unless I’m saved to something and it has to be the very moment. So he makes the statement, you and you believe it, you have everlasting life. Look in John chapter six and verse 35. John chapter six verse 35. There is a difference in the word of God about coming to Christ and coming after Christ. Look up here.

Coming to Christ, trusting Christ is Savior, coming to Him to be saved. Coming after Christ means that He is going and you’re following Him, that service. Coming to Christ’s salvation. Following after Him, that service. So when He says, follow me, refer to service. So when you come to Christ, that’s for salvation. Now, there is maybe one exception found in the book of John, chapter 10, where He says, My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Now, whether or not that salvation or service, we’ll get to that when we cover John chapter 10 in total.

Well, here in John and chapter five, look in verse 35. Verse 35 says, and Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh after me, is that what it says? He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst.” I wonder what the word never means. You ever heard somebody say, what part of no don’t you understand? What do you think never would mean? Never? Means never, never, never. Never, never.

mean you can’t happen then if God says never, if I believe I’ll never thirst, that means I’ll never thirst. See how hard it is to understand the Bible. You’re never hungry, must mean that you’ll never hunger. That’s how I interpret it. It means what it says. So he makes a statement, I am the bread of life and he that come up to me shall never hunger because he’s the bread of life. And whenever you eat this bread, he says you’ll never have to do it again.

That’s the teaching of eternal security. Now look what he said in verse 37. Verse 37, all that the Father, giveth me shall come to me. And him that come to me, I will and know wise cast out. So when you come to him, he says, all that the Father, giveth me the word give. And then you’ll also find that word mentioned down in verse 39. Give it to me. You see, whenever you trusted Christ as your Savior is because God so loved you, He sent His Son.

So you’re believing this story that He did this for you. And so when you believe this, the Bible says you’re born of God. You’re a child of God. He becomes your Father. And the Father is going to take all the children that came to Him and give you to Christ. So you belong to Him. And He says, and Alan, no wise, I’ll never lose you, never cast you out. So on verse 37, is this a good verse to show a person that once you come to Christ and you trust Him as your Savior that He’ll never cast you out and never lose you?

You hear me say it all the time and I use this with people all the time. It’s a tremendous verse to learn. Verse 37, verse 39. 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 Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. Paught 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 over to the church and be seated. 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.

All of life down here is getting ready to face God. So God says that why you’re here, yeah, you need this You need that, you need clothes, and you need food, and all these things. He says, but seek ye first, the kingdom of God, that’s priorities. Seek the right things. You see, you being strong and doing right is more than what you have and what you can accumulate. You may sacrifice some priorities in order to make money that only gets you things that you really didn’t need after all.

So whenever life is all over, all over it, now what? Now what are you going to do? Do you believe that witnessing is a priority or should be a priority? I believe it should be a priority, personally. Yet some people that’s not a priority to them. It should be a priority. So you see these golf balls, if you don’t have time for the priorities, that means you’ve got your life filled with other things that you really don’t need. And if you say, well, what was the coffee for?

Well, in spite of everything else that goes on in life, Nobody ought to be too busy that you ain’t got time to sit down and have a cup of coffee with a friend. So that’s why you need two cups of coffee to put into your life every day. So there’s two cups of coffee. There’s one for me and one for a friend. So if I ever got with you, I’ll buy you a cup of coffee. That’s all. I started going out with Leon and Leon.

Man, I forgot my wallet. Have you ever know people who like that? I forgot my wallet. I tried it with him and he says, I did too. Some things are just not fair. But what I want you to see there in the book of James and chapter four, I’m already convinced that I’m not gonna finish this morning. But we’re gonna make a stab at it, but I want you to see there in chapter four, looking verse 13. In verse 13 says, Go to now ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue their year and buy and sell and get gain.

Whereas you know not what shall be on the moral, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appear for a little time and then vanishes the way. For that you ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But now you can rejoice in your boast in all such rejoicing as evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin. If you know what priorities are what they should be and you don’t do it, then you’re sending as far as God is concerned.

But what I want you to see in James chapter 4 when he says, today or tomorrow, you should understand that the material possessions of the world do not bring fulfillment. If you live long enough, you’ll know that that will be true. The accumulation of things of the world does not satisfy for long. You’ve got to go from one thing to the next to the next and you’ll never be totally happy and satisfied. A man has to have a purpose in his life of what he wants to live for that does not change and that should be the eternal purpose of God.

What does God want for you in your life? When it makes a statement, today or tomorrow we will go into such a city. The reason that I wrote down four things and I’d like to just or mention to you. You don’t know if tomorrow will come with you in it. We know that tomorrow will come, but we don’t know if tomorrow will show up with you in it. True. So you don’t know the future. And yet you can make plans on what you want, and there’s nothing wrong with some of these things.

It’s just that they left God out. They left God out. They didn’t have their priorities right. Some people, that’s all they live for is to make gain. The other thing is you don’t know you will get to a certain city. Tomorrow will go to a certain city. You don’t know if you’ll be here tomorrow. And you don’t know if you’re going to ride at your destination. Have you lived long enough to realize that you had the death of some of your visions, some of your goals, some of your dreams?

Have you married that guy to find out that you had the death of a vision? He was supposed to be that knight in shining armor and you found out he was just a bum on skid row. You married that girl thinking that was the sweetest woman in the whole world and well, You don’t want to call her a nag, but she goes to the blacksmith shop to get her shoes and you got troubles. You thought, man, if I get that job, everything will be wonderful.

You got that job and you’ve cursed it ever since. You see, there’s a lot of things that you just don’t understand and neither do I. But we can’t say, Lord, stop the earth, let me off. I don’t want to ride no more. We’ve got a lot of things to learn. You don’t know if you will continue a year. She says, and we will continue there a year. You don’t know if you’ll continue a day, a week, a month. You really don’t know because there’s too many things that just lies beyond your power to control.

And that’s why material gain cannot bring fulfillment because you may not always get the material gain even if you chased it with all your heart. If you live long enough to see that sometimes some people can touch something, it turns the gold and you touch it and it turns the coal. They win, you lose. Man, they’re lucky, but they’re always lucky. I’m never lucky. I am a very lucky individual. Very lucky individual. Most of it bad luck, but lucky.

Sometimes mentally on a play game of golf and his ball is going in mind won’t. He says, just luck. I said, I had luck too, my mind was bad. And I guess if you didn’t have any bad luck, some of y’all wouldn’t have any luck at all. Somebody made that little statement famous. Look in Isaiah 56. Isaiah 56. Over there in the Old Testament, Isaiah 56. And look in verse 12, verse 12. In this verse, because a presumption upon the future is a foolish assumption.

He says here in verse 12, come ye say they, I will fetch wine and we will fill ourselves with strong drink, and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. Not only is we’re going to have a good day tomorrow, we’re going to have a much more abundant day tomorrow. Did you know that sometimes people, we want to be optimistic about tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be better. Tomorrow is always, I’m going to feel better tomorrow and things are going to work out better tomorrow.

And I remember one time somebody finally got me to, and I saw this movie called Gone with the Wind. It seemed like the key phrase that woman kept saying is tomorrow. Tomorrow. It all be better tomorrow. I remember her name, but she was, I think that she was the star of the show, but she was always, everything was happening. She was going to get better tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. Did you know that many people don’t have an optimistic outlook on tomorrow?

There are some people who have a pessimistic view of tomorrow. And you say, well, what’s the difference? Well, it’s kind of like this little boy was always positive, always positive. He was, you know, was so objective and everything was going to be better and he was just always hopeful and joyful of everything was going to be great. And so his daddy took him out and tried to teach him a little lesson in pessimism. He says, here’s the barn. And I want you to take out all that manure.

Game of pitch for it. And that little boy, 12 years old, in there just a throwing at manure. And the daddy thought he’d come back and check on him. And that little boy’s just singing and happy as he can bathe throwing manure everywhere. He says, what are you doing? What are you so happy about? How can you be positive? He says, well, all this manure, there’s got to be a pony around here somewhere. I’ve got pony. Somewhere. So some people are very pessimistic about tomorrow.

And therefore because they’re so pessimistic, they don’t even want to get out of bed. They don’t want that day to come. They just want to get out of life. So you see, you can be wrong because you don’t know what tomorrow may bring. And though you may think that I can’t go another step, I can’t take another thing. I’m at my witch’s end. You don’t know that tomorrow the Lord may be going to… open up a tremendous thing for you.

Tremendous blessings that you never saw and understood. You couldn’t see it coming. And also that today, it can’t get any worse and tomorrow God says, oh boy, it’s gonna get worse. So you don’t know what the day’s gonna bring. So what you do is you stay close to the Lord and keep your priorities straight and depend upon the Lord to give you the grace and the strength that you need, whatever comes tomorrow, but whether it’s good or whether you consider it bad should not affect your attitude about that day, because the God that prepared that day can also give you all that you need that’s sufficient for that day.

And that’s why he says, for the day, for the time is sufficient thereof. And many people, instead of living the day that they’ve got with the grace they’ve got, they borrow the problems of the future by worrying about what’s going to happen. And then they bring all the troubles of the past into this one day and they can’t bear all of that. And so life isn’t worth living. So they’re down, they’re discouraged, they’re depressed all the time. And the reason is because, see, God will give you the grace to bear the burdens of this day.

But when you go back into the past and add onto it and then reach into the future and worry about it, then see you’ve overloaded yourself and God did not intend for this half-ton pickup to carry a ten-ton load. And it’s going to break you down. You can’t handle it. But you need to learn that material gain cannot bring this fulfillment. And as he says here in the last part of that verse 12, and much more abundant. Now look there in James chapter 5, James chapter 5.

There’s nothing wrong in having things in life, nothing wrong and been wealthy as long as priorities are always kept as they should be. You see the main thing is keep the main thing the main thing, always major in the major, not the minor things. Over my life I’ve had a lot of things come and lot of things go, but I’ve tried to major in the major. I’ve tried to keep priorities straight. That is my love for the Lord is a priority.

My love for my wife is not as priority as the love for my wife, for the Lord. Though I love my wife, my kids, my grandkids, I love them, but I will not love them right if I don’t love God, right? Loving God is my love the Lord thy God with all my heart, mind, body, shoulders, and that’s first, that’s priority. And if you keep your priorities right, everything else will work out. You get them out of shape, nothing will work right.

Look there in chapter 5 of James. Go to now ye rich men, weep and howful your misery, some people say, well I would like to have some of that misery. I’ve never been rich, so I don’t know how miserable they are. Well it’s just that there’s times in a person’s life. That whenever the greatest misery of all is if you have made your life a goal of getting the riches and you’re rich in the things of the world, but you did not become rich toward God and no treasure, your misery not necessarily has to be in this life.

If you have trusted Christ as your Savior and you’re standing at the de Jevons of the Christ and you see what God could have done for you or through you in the rewards you could have had real treasure and you reap the treasures down here. Then you are going to be one miserable individual for a while. I don’t know how long God says He’ll wipe away all tears from their eyes. So evidently they’reAnimation tears in heaven because of wasted lives.

Because you see you had a life full of sand. Something’s just good things but not priorities. You didn’t say right. Priorities always keep your priorities a priority. And he makes the statement here in verse 2, your riches are corrupted, your garments are maleating. In other words, it doesn’t matter whether you got the riches not. You say, well, that’s a sign of success, not necessarily, not in God’s eyes. The Bible says that I guess the apostle Paul was successful. All of the disciples were successful.

Well, they were to successful. They didn’t die rich. They most, not even jail, crucified upside down, chopped off Paul’s head. Isaiah was sawed in half in a tree trunk. So, I mean, were they successful or not? You see, success. You got to find out what does that word mean to you between you and God. Success depends on where you faithful. Faithful to the priorities, not just doing everything that you want to do. Many people’s lives are filled with nothing but sand.

And then they have nothing but sand. there’s no value in the sand. I assure you that Godfall costs more than that marble. But I guarantee that marble costs more than that sand. But you see this costs the most. This is the greater value. And as you live your life, learn the values, the things that God puts upon you. What does God think? That becomes valuable. And get what He says here in verse 3, your goal and silver is conquered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fired.

You have heap treasure together for the last days. In other words, it may not be now, but you’ve have heaped yourself some treasures, but these are treasures that you’re going to lose. It’s nothing wrong in using the things of this world for God’s honor and for God’s glory because we’re gonna leave this world one day. So while we’re here we should try to accomplish all that we can with what we have. And if God gives us more than let God give us more, but always keep your priorities right.

You see, my values that I have, it’s not based upon do I have a car, do I have a house, do I have money in the bank, those are not my priorities. My character is a priority. Doing right, it’s not based upon whether somebody else thinks I am or not, it’s my personal vibe between me and what I think I’m worth. It’s me. It’s how I see my personal values. And I believe they ought to be real in every person’s life.

Nobody can make those things wrong. I want these teenagers to have value in their life. They can spend their life on nothing but sand or they can develop some priorities in AUTHORITY in their life and they can’t be bought because they’re not for sale. I’m not going to give up this golf ball right here. That’s a priority of life for some more sand. I don’t want no more sand. And sometimes you have to get things out of your life.

And this is why you studied the Bible to find out maybe there’s things that I’ve got, things that I’m doing that are not wise. It’s not right. And they’re just consuming my life, consuming my time, but I’m getting nothing for it. Learn these things. They’re so important. Other things here I want to share, but we will get to that here at another time. I want you to look in the book of Proverbs 27, Proverbs in chapter 27. Proverbs 27, there are things that happens in our life that are to keep us off balance because life is always fleeting.

The Bible talks about it as a vapor, smoke, that appear for a while they blade of grass that groweth up. It flurs for a while and then it faded away. Life is a very short period of time. You ought to underline verse 1 in verse 1 of chapter 27. Most not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. You ought to underline because it’s a word of wisdom. A word to the wise. You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.

But the Bible says what we should do and should say is if the Lord will, if the Lord will. And I believe that’s one of the most important things. Keep us in mind. Me, without God, I’m nothing. Christ says, without me, you are nothing. God, without me, still God. Me, without God, I’m nothing. God, without me, he’s still God. But without God you’re nothing in so am I. Now with the Lord we can do a lot of things but we we don’t prepare the day.

There’s a verse talking about God has prepared this day. This is the day that the Lord hath made and you don’t know what a day is going to bring forth. We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. It may bring blessings or it may bring drought. It may bring financial rewards and it might bring poverty. It may bring good health and it may bring cancer, bad health. You don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s why you are to prepare every day to be strong in the Lord so that whether with the blessings you don’t get lifted up with pride and turn on God or become so down in the stories that you don’t even want to live.

But if you always keep your priorities right say you always got something to live for. You know you hear people say, I just want to make no live for. Well, you filled your life full of sand. If you had some priorities, you got lots to live for. I’ve got a reason to guard my testimony because I got something to live for. I got priorities in my life. But you take away all those priorities, have nothing to say. You don’t care about your testimony.

You don’t have to be faithful. You don’t worry about anything. You don’t care. And you’re a developer. I don’t care attitude. Ever seen anybody like that? Nothing matters. Don’t care. because they’re focusing only upon sand, upon sand, not priorities. So keep those things in mind. I want you to see this in Psalms 102. Psalms 102. Psalms 102 and look in verse 11. There’s really three verses here I want to read. Because it’s about a person whose soul is so distressed, So afflicted, and they know that God is the one that can remove the affliction, and God may choose not to.

So he says in verse 10, because of thine indignation and thy wrath, for thou have, get this, there’s two things here. Talk about God now. Lift me up and put me down. Did you realize that God can lift you up and put you down? He can exalt you, He can humble you. He can bless you and He can bring all kind of things into your life. God can. Because remember when it comes to that cake, he knows exactly what kind of ingredients to put in because he’s the only one that knows what he’s trying to make out of your life.

So that’s why you always try to look at the things of life through the eyes of God. God wants to use this in my life. wants to use this person in my life, this experience in my life. Individually, they are not good, but you put it together with all the other things that God’s brought into your life. And after a while, you’ll live long enough to look back over your life and say, it’s been a good life. I can see how God has moved here and moved there.

You see, if you put everything in God’s hands, it won’t be long before you’ll see God’s hand in everything. And you can see how God did it. But when I was living that moment, sometimes I was totally terrified. I couldn’t see how God was going to get me out of this jam. I didn’t see a purpose for this or a purpose for that. I didn’t have to. God did. God has one. And He may let me see it someday and may not.

I remember one time I was preaching a funeral and I was explaining some of the things of life that we don’t understand. And I said, it’s kind of like grandma. She’s sitting there doing some embroidering and little granddaughter. She’s sitting there on the floor and she’s looking up at grandma and grandma’s doing some sewing. And she’s looking up and says, grandma, what are you doing? She says, I’m doing embroidering. She says, well, it sure don’t look very nice because she saw the bottom part.

She saw different colors of string and broken pieces of string. She saw no continuity, no pattern. It didn’t look good, looked totally ugly. She says, when I get through, I’ll bring you up here and let you see what I’ve been doing. Okay, that’s her feisture for a while. So after a while, grandma brought her up and set her on any and showed her, and there was a beautiful picture that she had been working. You see, all depends on viewpoint.

There’s a human viewpoint and divine viewpoint. Depends on where you are. So if you’re looking at it from your viewpoint, you don’t see the connection. You don’t see the pattern. You don’t see the beauty. But when you look at things through the eyes of the Lord, you’ll find out God had a purpose. God had a plan. God’s working something. This is beautiful. And you can have a beautiful life. Some of you are going to curse your life. Some of you are going to have a lot of sand.

You’re going to throw your life away because you forget your priorities. I hope that makes some sense to you. Look up here. This is you and me. This is sin. We all have sin upon us. God loves us. He just hates our sin, but He loves us. Keep that in mind. God loves you. It’s the sin that’s the problem. But he says we committed the sin and we have to pay for it, so the wages of sin is death.

So since we’ve all sinned, we all have to die. That means eternal separation from God in a place called Hell. But God loves us, it wants us to go to Heaven. 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 cannot save ourselves. We need a Savior. So go on to church doing good deeds and things like God says it’s not by your works. this hand represents Jesus Christ.

He’s the Lord, God in the flesh. He was God who came into the world and took upon flesh. He had no sin so he didn’t have to die. But he loves us. He hates our sin because it separates us from we can’t get to God. So what Christ did is he took the sin, not some of it, took all of it. Paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead and God said if we would We would believe he did that for us.

He would save every person that believes it. So one day when I was 18 years old, that for us. So one day when I was 18 years old a man explained this to me and I believe that Jesus Christ did that for me. And God saved me, gave me eternal life. He put this payment to my account and I have a payment for all my sins and I’m going to heaven because of what Jesus Christ did. I didn’t earn it, didn’t work for it.

Now that I got it, I can’t lose it. God says that he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believe it in him should not perish but have everlasting life we go to heaven what Christ did for us once you trust the Lord you’re his child you’re going to heaven whenever you die now as a child of God living in this world what is your life learn the Bible get your priority straight when you get If it’s your priority straight, then you have time and room for some of the other important things that you can leave out the sand.

Keep the coffee. Let’s pray, shall we? Every headbound, every act closed, no one looking around. If you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, I urge you to do so. Not going to have you forward, not going to embarrass you in any way. But right where you’re sitting, if you’ve never trusted the Lord, would you do it right now? Say something simple like this, Lord, I know I’m a sinner and I believe Christ died, Christ died, paid for my sins, and I’ll trust Him to take me to heaven when I die.

And God said if you’ll believe that and trust Him, depend upon Him, He would give you as a gift eternal life. If you’re making that decision, you’ve never done it before, I’d like to have prayer for you. Would you just slip in it very quickly and put it right back down if you’ve never done it before and say yes, I’ll trust Christ as my Savior this morning and preach I like for you to pray for me. In one of the all before we close.

You that know Christ is your Savior, what is your life? Do you consider yourself having your priority straight? Do you have the main thing, the main thing? The major things is still the major things. You have a lot of sand in your life that you need to get rid of. Things that are not important just filling up your life. Put something better in this place. Our Father, we do thank you so much for all you’ve done for us. We’re thankful that we have your Word, that we have your love, and we have your Son, and we have eternal life.

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

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

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the 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.

I want you to look into, look at James chapter four. James chapter four, it’s a very interesting Scripture that I wanted to share with you. Sooner or later everybody needs to learn that everything in life is is not not good. I Think you probably have already come to that conclusion. It’s some things you consider. They’re just plain not good But there are some things as we live life that are inevitable and it’s something that will hold you together if you can come to the right conclusion.

You have to face the inevitable. Some things you can change. Some things you can. And so we do need to learn how to accept reality. And the three things that I wanted to mention to you this morning, one is that material gain cannot bring fulfillment. You should have learned that by now. I also that tomorrow cannot be perfectly forecast, and at three that the Master, the Lord, cannot be forgotten. As you live your life, there are multitudes of decisions that we have to make.

And it’s hard sometimes for people to be able to learn what priorities are. Now I want to show you a simple little stration. And I hope that you will understand it. But what I’m going to do is use a little little stration. I learned this from somebody just recently. Now I want you to notice up here as you look up here. These are golf balls. I rated Leon’s house and stole all of his golf balls. Now what we’re going to do is we’re to fill this jar full of golf balls.

Is it full yet? Thank you. Is it full yet? I don’t want to go over the top. That’s going over the top. So that’s before, right? Okay. Now, would you say that that is full? Of course most people say, well, yeah, because you can’t get another one in there because it won’t close then. But what I want to show you is this. Not only is it not really full, it all depends on what you have in it. So we can put some of these things in here, right?

How many of y’all used to play marbles when you were a kid? Girls? Girls raised her hand? I used to love the play marble. I remember one day, when I was in the second grade, right down here in Good Old Lexington, we would get out there and we couldn’t wait for recess. We’d get out there and we’d have some marbles. And when we had those marbles, we’d always put a choice number and we’d make a big old circle and we’d put those marbles in there and then whoever got knocked going out, then you’d get to shoot again and again and again.

So the key was always to take the other guy’s marbles. And so after a while we said, well, you done lost your marbles. Of course, we’ve meant it something else, too. And they lost their marbles. And I remember I had a big day one day right after recess. My pocket was bulging with marbles. I had a good day. And then when I, uh… That full, that’s full, okay. I walked into the classroom and sat down, but after a while I’d get bored quick.

So when I got bored quick, I slouched down in my chair. When I slouched down in my chair, those marbles, and I was, A, Arnold, always in the front row, close to the teacher. And those marbles came out of my pocket and started running down the aisle. Well, doggy. The teacher confiscated all of my marbles. To call my marbles. That was a bad day in my life. Now, this is pretty much, you know, full. Can’t get much more in there.

But I could put a little bit more in there. I could put some sand in there. And you could put that sand in there. Now, see, it’s full there. Well, you say that’s pretty full, right? It ain’t full yet. See y’all said it was full. And look at that. See it wasn’t full. Look how much more it can go in here. See there? Did that awesome? I’m gonna drink a portion of that in just a minute.

I love coffee. We’re talking about your life. You see, if we had put the sand in first, We couldn’t have got any marbles in it if we’d have filled it full of sand. If we’d have filled it full of sand first, we couldn’t have got the marbles in. But if we’d have filled it full of marbles, we couldn’t have got the golf balls in it because you can’t get those in there after you don’t got it already full. See, when you’re talking about your life, see the golf balls, they represent the priorities of life.

They come first. sure that you get the priorities in your life. You know, something in your life ought to be a priority ought to be the Lord. The studying of God’s Word, that that’d be another Godfall, that’d be a priority. And see your love for your wife and your children, that would be a good priority. And to witness and so forth and live in a righteous life, those are those are priorities. So always get your priorities in your life first.

You see, then you’ve got these marbles. Those are other things. They’re not bad, they’re just some other things that you can put into your life. But at least you got the priorities. And then you put the other things in your life, you know, like maybe going on a trip or a house or a car, your job. But those are not the most important things. The relationship you have between you and the Lord and you and your wife, those are important.

Live in a godly life. Whether you have a job or whether you have a house, whether you have money, that’s not the most important thing. But you see, those are important and they need to be in your life, but you gotta have the priorities first. Now, some people, all their life consists of is nothing but sand. They fill their whole life of nothing but sand. Christ says, if you build your house upon sand and it’s all going to crumble.

You don’t have anything of value. You see what makes you a valuable person, a person of character, is the priorities that you have in your life. See, I know people that have no time, they have no room in their life to go to church, they don’t have time. They don’t have time to study God’s Word, they have no time, they have no room because their life is filled with so many other things that are not important, but they’re filled.

You see, we all get pretty much the same amount of time to live. If we all live this day, 24 hours, everybody got 24 hours, but some people have greater priorities than somebody else. And many people, their life is filled with nothing but the sand or the priorities. So as you go through life, make sure that you have the priorities of life. Seaky first, the kingdom of God and all these other things can be added to you. But you only get to live so long.

You can’t do everything. So what you want to do if you don’t have room or time for the priorities, but then maybe you need to get rid of something. You see, you’re the one that decides what you put in your life. We learned a little illustration from a guy named Lester Rolloff. He started roll up homes down in. Texas. And he was explaining Romans 828 and he says that Romans 828, all things work together for good to those who love the Lord, to those that are called according to his purpose.

But he said not all things in themselves seems to be good. And if he was the bacon cake and you took the various ingredients and you took a mouthful of lard, that doesn’t taste very good. A mouthful of bacon soda doesn’t taste very good. A mouthful of salt. doesn’t taste very good. But the right amount of each ingredient all put together under time, heat, pressure, it can produce a wonderful cake to eat. So since God is the one who is building your life and he knows what you need, he’s going to put different ingredients into your life.

Well some people see there’s no room for God to put anything into your life because you’ve got it filled with sand. Imaterial think things that doesn’t matter, thing of no value. So the reason for studying the Bible is because the Bible talks about cutting off the things of the flesh, mortifying the things of the flesh. In other words, doing away with some of those things that you don’t need. In the book of Hebrews in chapter 12, it talks about us running a race, laying aside that which will hinder you from running the race.

So it’s not that somebody else could sit in judgment on everybody else, it’s just, but what are you doing? What Does your life consist of? What is your value? What is your priorities over the years? Since I trusted Christ my Savior. Going to church every time the doors are open, as much as I possibly can, unless I’m working or sick in the hospital, whatever, I’ve always been in church. That’s a priority. What, I need church. I need it. What God says so.

See, when you start using human logic and reasoning, Well, I’ll go whenever I think I need to. Well, see, then you don’t have your priority straight. Reading the word of God, study in the word of God. If this is truly the word of God, do you believe that it is the will of God for you to spend some time letting God talk to you? That ought to be a what? That ought to be a priority. And if you can live your days and your life without study in the word of God, then evidently you don’t have your priority straight.

Now, you may be doing a lot of things, But if you don’t have time for God to speak to you, then you don’t have your priorities in the right order. If you don’t have time to talk to God, then you don’t have your priorities straight. So that’s why some people need to rearrange their life. They need to get their lives in order. When God’s gonna have one man taken home, God says, get your house in order. In other words, it wasn’t in order.

You’re not prepared to meet God. All of life down here is getting ready to face God. So God says that, why you’re here, yeah, you need this and you need that, you need clothes and you need food and all these things. He says, but seek ye first, the kingdom of God, that’s priorities, seek the right things. You see, you being strong and doing right is more than what you have and what you can accumulate. You may sacrifice some priorities in order to make money that only gets you things that you really didn’t need after all.

So whenever life is all over, all over it, now what? Now what are you going to do? Do you believe that witnessing is a priority or should be a priority? I believe it should be a priority and personally, yet some people that’s not a priority to them. It should be a priority. So you see these golf balls, if you don’t have time for the priorities, that means you’ve got your life filled with other things that you really don’t need.

And If you say, well, what was the coffee for? Well, in spite of everything else that goes on in life, nobody ought to be too busy that you ain’t got time to sit down and have a cup of coffee with a friend. So that’s why you need two cups of coffee to put into your life every day. So there’s two cups of coffee. There’s one for me and one for a friend. So if I ever got with you, I’ll buy you a cup of coffee.

That’s all. I started going out with Leon. Leon. Man, I forgot my wallet. Have you ever know people who like that? I forgot my wallet. Where are they? Heh! I tried it with him and he says, I did too. Some things are just not fair. But what I want you to see there in the book of James and chapter four, I’m already convinced that I’m not gonna finish this, this morning. But we’re gonna make a stab at it, but I want you to see there in chapter four, looking verse 13.

In verse 13 says, go to now ye that say, today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue their year and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas you know not what shall be on the moral, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes the way. For that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But now you can rejoice in your boast, and all such rejoicing is evil.

Therefore to Him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not to Him it is sin. If you know what priorities are, and what they should be, and you don’t do it, then you’re sinning as far as God is concerned. But what I want you to see in James chapter four when he says, today or tomorrow you should understand that the material possessions of the world do not bring fulfillment. If you live long enough, you’ll know that that will be true.

The accumulation of things of the world does not satisfy for long. You’ve got to go from one thing to the next to the next and you’ll never be totally happy and satisfied. A man has to have a purpose in his life of what he wants to live for that does not change. And that should be the eternal purpose of God. What does God want for you in your life? your life. When it makes a statement today or tomorrow we will go into such a city.

The reason that I wrote down four things and I like to just mention to you, you don’t know if tomorrow will come with you in it. We know that tomorrow will come, but we don’t know if tomorrow will show up with you in it. True? So you don’t know the future and yet you can make plans on what you want and there’s nothing wrong with some of these things it’s just that they left God out. They left God out.

They didn’t have their priorities right. Some people that’s all they live for is to make gain. The other thing is you don’t know you will get to a certain city. Tomorrow will go to a certain city. You don’t know if you’ll be here tomorrow and you don’t know if you’re going to ride at your destination. Have you lived long enough to realize that you’ve had the death of some of your visions, some of your goals, some of your dreams.

Have you married that guy to find out that you had the death of a vision? He was supposed to be that knight in shining armor and you found out he was just a bum on skid row. You married that girl thinking that was the sweetest woman in the whole world and well you don’t want to call her a nag but she He goes to the blacksmith shop to get her shoes and you got troubles. You thought, man, if I get that job, everything will be wonderful.

You got that job and you’ve cursed it ever since. You see, there’s a lot of things that you just don’t understand and neither do I. But we can’t say, Lord, stop the earth. Let me off. I don’t want to ride no more. We’ve got a lot of things to learn. You don’t know if you will continue a year. She says, and we will continue there a year. You don’t know if you’ll continue a day, a week, a month. You really don’t know because there’s too many things that just lies beyond your power to control.

And that’s why material gain cannot bring fulfillment because you may not always get the material gain even if you’ve chased it with all your heart. If you live long enough to see that sometimes some people can touch something and it turns the gold and you touch it and it turns the coal. They win, you lose. Man, they’re lucky. Well, they’re always lucky. I’m never lucky. I am a very lucky individual. Very lucky individual. Most of it bad luck, but lucky.

me and Lee on a play game of golf and his baller going in mind won’t. He says just luck. I said I had luck too. Mine was bad. And I guess if you didn’t have any bad luck, some of y’all wouldn’t have any luck at all. Somebody made that little statement famous. Looking. Isaiah 56. Isaiah 56 over there in the Old Testament Isaiah chapter 56 and look in verse 12 verse 12 in this verse because a presumption upon the future is a foolish assumption.

He says here in verse 12, come ye say they, I will fetch wine and we will fill ourselves with strong drink and tomorrow shall be as this day and much more abundant. Not only is we’re going to have a good day tomorrow, we’re going to have a much more abundant day tomorrow. Did you know that sometimes people we want to be optimistic about tomorrow? Tomorrow is going to be better. Tomorrow is always I’m going to feel better tomorrow. and things are going to work out better tomorrow.

And I remember one time somebody finally got me to, and I saw this movie called Gone with the Wind, and it seemed like the key phrase that woman kept saying is, tomorrow, tomorrow. It all be better tomorrow. I remember her name, but she was, I think that she was the star of the show, but she was always, everything was happening. She was going to get better tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. Did you know that many people don’t have an optimistic outlook on tomorrow?

There are some people who have a pessimistic view of tomorrow. And you say, well, what’s the difference? Well, it’s kind of like this little boy was always positive, always positive. He was so, you know, objective and everything was going to be better and he was just always He’s hopeful, and joyful of everything is going to be great. And so his daddy took him out and tried to teach him a little lesson in pessimism. He says, here’s the barn. And I want you to take out all that manure.

I gave him a pitch for it and that little boy, 12 years old, in there just a throwing that manure. Daddy thought he’d come back and check on him and that little boy’s just singing and happy as he can bathe throwing manure everywhere. He says, what are you doing? What are you so happy about? How can you be positive? He says, well, all this manure, there’s got to be a pony around here somewhere. There’ll be a pony somewhere. So some people are very pessimistic about tomorrow and therefore because they’re so pessimistic, they don’t even want to get out of bed.

They don’t want that day to come. I just want to get out of life. So you see, you can be wrong because you don’t know what tomorrow may bring. And though you may think that I can’t go another step, I can’t take another thing. I’m at my wits end. You don’t know that tomorrow, the Lord may be gonna open up a tremendous thing for you. Tremendous blessings that you never saw and understood. You couldn’t see it coming. And also that today it can’t get any worse and tomorrow God says, oh boy, it’s gonna get worse.

So you don’t know what the day is gonna bring. So what you do is you stay close to the Lord and keep your priorities straight and depend upon the Lord to give you the grace and the strength that you need, whatever comes tomorrow. But whether it’s good or whether you consider it bad should not affect your attitude about that day. Because the God that prepared that day can also give you all that you need, that’s sufficient for that day.

And that’s why he says, for the day, for the time is sufficient thereof. And many people, instead of living the day that they’ve got with the grace they’ve got, they borrow the problems of the future by worrying about what’s going to happen. And then they bring all the troubles of the past into this one day, and they can’t bear all of that. And so life isn’t worth living. So they’re down, they’re discouraged, they’re depressed all the time. And the reason is because, see, God will give you the grace to bear the burdens of this day.

But when you go back into the past and add onto it, and then reach into the future and worry about it, then see you’ve overloaded yourself and God did not intend for this half-ton pickup to carry a 10-ton load. It’s going to break you down. You can’t handle it. But you need to learn that material gain cannot bring this fulfillment. And as he says, you’re in the last part of that verse 12, and much more abundant. Now look there in James chapter 5, James chapter 5.

There’s nothing wrong in having things in life, nothing wrong and been wealthy as long as priorities are always kept as they should be. You see the main thing is keep the main thing the main thing always major in the major not the minor things. Over my life I’ve had a lot of things come a lot of things go but I’ve I’ve tried to major in the major. I’ve tried to keep priorities straight. That is my love for the Lord is a priority.

My love for my wife is not as priority as the love for the Lord. Though I love my wife, my kids, my grandkids, I love them, but I will not love them right if I don’t love God, right? Loving God is my love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mine, body, soul, and that’s first as priority. And if you keep your priorities right, everything else will work out. You get them out of shape. Nothing will work right.

Look there in chapter five of James. Go to now ye rich men. We’ve been how for your miseries.” Some people say, well, I would like to have some of that misery. I’ve never been rich, so I don’t know how miserable they are. Well, it’s just that there’s times in a person’s life. That whenever the greatest misery of all is if you have made your life a goal of getting the riches and you’re rich in the things of the world, but you did not become rich toward God in no treasure.

your misery not necessarily has to be in this life. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior and you’re standing at the de Jevons of the Christ and you see what God could have done for you or through you in the rewards you could have had real treasure and you reap the treasures down here then you are going to be one miserable individual for a while. I don’t know how long God says he’ll wipe away all tears from their eyes so evidently they’re going to be some tears in heaven.

because of wasted lives. Because you see you had a life full of sand. Something’s just good things but not priorities. You didn’t stay right. Priorities always keep your priorities a priority. And he makes the statement here in verse two, your riches are corrupted, your garments are moth-eaten. In other words it doesn’t matter whether you got the riches or not. You say well that’s a sign of success. not necessarily, not in God’s eyes. The Bible says that I guess the apostle Paul was successful.

All of the disciples were successful. Well if they were successful they didn’t die rich. They even jailed, crucified upside down, chopped off Paul’s head. Isaiah was sawed in half in a tree trunk. So I mean were they successful or not? You see success. You got to find out what does that word mean to you, between you and God, success depends on where you faithful. Faithful to the priorities, not just doing everything that you want to do. Many people’s lives are filled with nothing but sand.

And then they have nothing to say, there’s no value in this sand. I assure you that God Paul costs more than that marble. But I guarantee that marble costs more than that sand. But you see, this costs the most. This is the greater value. And as you live your life, learn the values, the things that God puts upon you. What does God think? That becomes valuable. And get what he says here. In verse three, your goal and silver is conquered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fired.

You have heap trager together for the last days. In other words, it may not be now, But you’ve have heaped yourself some treasures, but these are treasures that you’re going to lose. It’s nothing wrong in using the things of this world for God’s honor and for God’s glory because we’re gonna leave this world one day. So while we’re here, we should try to accomplish all that we can with what we have. 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 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 dot 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 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 title of today’s message as it was, So shall it be. Look there in Luke chapter 17 and look in verse 25. When it says, but first must he suffer many things and be rejected of this generation. Christ was rejected of this generation, the time in which he lived. This is Christ speaking. You could say if we want to apply that to the time in which we live, we also must suffer and be rejected in this generation. You know the more righteous you try to live, the ungodly people are not impressed with it, don’t care for it, and totally, truly, despise you for doing it.

The more right you try to do, the more you’re despised for doing so. There are people who want to justify sin in the world, and you and I that live right are a rebuke to them for such. After all, don’t you understand this? The 21st century. We need to get a life, get a grip. We’ve been held back too long. We need to cut off the restraints in our life and just, you know, go for it. Well, what in the world is to keep the Christian from being like the world?

What is to keep us from just doing like they do? Believing like they believe. Well, I wanna give you a few things I think will help you because this was mentioned to God’s people. He says in verse 26, and as it was, in the days of Noah, so shall it be. So as it was, so shall it be. Also in the days of the Son of Man. The days of the Son of Man is the day when the Lord is going to come.

See there in verse 22, and he said unto the disciples, the days will come. When ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man. shall not see it. And they shall say to you, see here, or see there, go not after them, nor follow them. So there is the day of the Son of Man. This is when Christ comes back to the earth in power and great glory after the worst period of time the world has ever known.

But at that time when He comes back, as it was, so shall it be. And then He makes this statement up there in verse 27, they ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until, until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed the morn. Then he says that in verse 28, likewise also as it was in the days of Lot they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted and built it.

But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Now in verse 27, doing the blood, it destroyed them all. And even down to a city, it destroyed them all. So can God destroy, and you’ll find us in various scriptures, where God destroyed whole families, the sin of Achan, cost them his whole family. And here you’re talking about a city, and then you were talking about the world. God is greed.

If God will grieved because of Noah’s day and he was grieved because of Sodom and Gomorrah then God is grieved today. I could not say God is pleased with how the world is or pleased on how his children are. I think it all grieves the Lord. Because we’re not as faithful as we ought to be. Luke chapter 21, notice in verse 25, there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars. And upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men’s hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.

There are things that are coming upon the earth that will place the fear in a person because they know that they do not have the answers or the solutions. Men’s hearts failing them for fear, seeing those potential of things that are going to come. How bad is it going to be before the Lord comes back? I don’t know. But Lord is what He says in verse 27, and then and then, shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

They shall see him coming.” It’s not like he almost appears like he does at the rapture. This is whenever they will see him coming. Wouldn’t that be awesome? For them to see something coming from outer space. That I would love to see. I’d love to read the headlines on what they see and what they say, what they think. Verse 28, when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption, draw at nine.

the Lord is coming back. Then he uses a parable of the fig tree. The fig tree is a type of the nation of Israel. And he says that when a fig tree begins to blossom, look what he says. When they now shoot forth in verse 30, you see a know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise, when you see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.

Verily, I say to you, this generation shall not pass away, can all be fulfilled. Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. If you could only believe that verse 33, heaven and Earth, it will pass away. But God’s word is true. And what God says is going to happen is going to happen. So then in view of all of this, okay, say all this is true. Then in verse 34, take heed to yourselves. You can’t make everybody else do right.

You can’t make the husband do right. You can’t make the wife do right. And in many cases today you can’t make the kids do right, but you can make yourself do right. So take heed to yourselves that at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfing and drunkenness, that means over abounding in the things of this world. There’s some things in the world you can enjoy. There’s a certain amount of things living in this world because we live in a body.

It has to have a roof over our head and it has to have food to eat and have to have clothes to wear. You’ve got to have a car to go to work. They’re certain basic things. But God’s don’t become overcharged with so much worry about the things of this world, that the cares of this world cause you to forget about the times in which you live that you stop thinking about the Lord coming and being faithful to the Lord.

Doing right by God is more important than anything else in the world. Don’t let anything else overshadow that. So he says here in verse 35, For as a snare shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. So it’s going to be a world thing. It’s going to happen all over the world, not just one little place. And then he says in verse 36, watch ye therefore and pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.

Now that day is coming. He’s talking mainly to the nation of Israel. How is going to be in the tribulation period right before he comes back in power and great glory? That they will be counted worthy to escape this great judgment, the wrath of the Lamb, the day that the Lord will come back. And that’s going to be one bad day, the day of the Lord. But you and I are supposed to be taken out seven years before that.

But see, if that is true, and I believe that it is, we should be able to see many things leading up to the, I guess you could say, the morality of the world at that time. What kind of a world do we live in? Are the nations of the world becoming more godlier or less godlier? Do we really care or are we breaking more and more of the laws of God and there’s a price to be paid? Look now in Genesis chapter 5, because he says, as it was, so shall it be.

And notice what God said in verse 5 of Genesis chapter 6, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. Stop and think. Do you believe that God sees the wickedness of the world today in which we live? If that was true then and God destroyed the world… Have we learned a lesson from this and sought to do right? What did none of a do when Jonah went there and preached to him and told him what God was going to do and so the people got right?

Years later they were destroyed because, you know, after 100 years or 200 years, God wanted to store in the matron. But at that time, God spared him because the people did right. That’s what made Jonah so bad. But now notice what he says in verse 1. God saw the wickedness of man that was great in the earth and get this, that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Whenever a man does not yield a God, does it yield his thoughts, his words, his actions, and seek to do that which places God then, God says that is a wicked thing.

It is evil imagination and the thoughts of his heart is on his mind all the time It actually means similar to Isaiah 53 verse 6 where he says all we like sheep have gone astray Would you say that the world has gone astray? That the world is seeking its own pleasure doing its own thing and everybody wants to be the judge in their own eyes Every man is doing that which he thinks is right in his own eyes. That’s nothing to do with God.

And that’s the way the world is. And you can check nation after nation after nation. And when I hear about what’s going on over in Europe and how the thinking is of the people, it’s worse and worse and worse. Everything is acceptable. It doesn’t matter what it is. It’s acceptable. So what kind of an attitude are the Christians supposed to have in the midst of all of this? Look what he says in verse six, I want you to see that.

And it repented the Lord, that means it grieved the Lord, that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord says, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping things and the files of the earth, for he repented me that I have made man. So God said, I’ll just destroy them all. And this is why it says, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Every man must find grace in the eyes of the Lord. to you and I that understand what grace is. We’re talking about salvation. And Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, Noah found salvation in the eyes of the Lord. See, in the eyes of the Lord, in the book of Revelation in chapter 1, it talks about his eyes where there’s a flame of fire. That means judgment and wrath. That’s what the tribulation is about. Well, see, now you can look into the eyes of the Lord and you can see grace.

God wants to bestow grace upon every individual because God poured out his judgment upon his son. are the time will come when those who have not found grace in the eyes of the Lord will find the judgment, the fiery judgment of God. In verse 9 these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation. Noah walked with God. So even though the world walks away from God and goes astray and the world is wicked, Noah walked with God.

So just because everybody else walks with the world in the flesh doesn’t mean you have to. God used Noah because he walked with God and he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. But look what it says in verse 11. The earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence. So God sees the corruptness of their minds and the violence in the land and this is what God sees today all over the world. Look at verse 12 and God looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt and you are on the line this, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

There are people today that want to corrupt the Bible, they corrupt the church, they corrupt the Christians, and majority of Christians lives are corrupted because they’re not living clean lives or pure lives. It’s just so, so enough to try to keep God off their back, but now whether really totally dedicated to the Lord. What kind of people should we be? Now look there in Genesis and chapter 18, in look in verse 20. What he says as it was in the days of Lot, well what are you talking about?

Well Lot was just a backslidden Christian. There ever was a backslidden Christian that was Lot in his family. Now Lot lost his whole family. Lot really messed up. He was Abraham’s nephew and he could have done right. But he chose the water planes of Jordan and he went the wrong direction and it wasn’t long before he was at the gate and then he was inside the gate. You see that’s what generally happens when you start in the wrong direction.

Sodom and Gomorrah is actually about homosexuals. You won’t find the word homosexual just used the word sodomite. But it’s exactly the same sin of the day. with men, women, women, or shan. And he says this in verse 20, and the Lord said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous. So does God call it the sin? It is a sin. It is a sin. It is wicked. It is wrong. It is not right.

It can never be made right. And there’s no such thing as day rights, because it’s wrong. Now look in verse 23. And Abraham drew near and said, Will thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? So does God say it’s wicked? God says it’s wicked. God says it’s sin. It is they sin. God says it is grievous in his eyes. Remember he destroyed the world because they grieved God. Now he’s talking about he’s going to destroy this city because they grieved God because the wicked are doing this.

God does not tolerate him. If God destroyed them, if God doesn’t destroy America, then God needs to apologize to them for what He did to them. Because America is as bad or more wicked than what they are because we’ve got more like, we’ve got more truth understanding, more preachers telling the truth, and they still despise God and despise truth and despise the Word of God. And they don’t want the Bible anywhere. They don’t want Christianity anywhere. But anyway, it’s coming.

God is going to judge. He’s going to destroy it. Now look there in chapter 19 in verse seven. Look at verse seven. And Lot was talking and he said, I pray you brother do not so wickedly because they wanted to take these two angels that he came down to see what and they wanted those men. And he says, don’t do so wickedly. And then what does he do? He says, you can have my daughters. You can have my daughters.

So he was willing to give up his daughters to those wicked men. And then later on when they did get out of the city, the daughters in their thinking says we don’t have a husband now. And we don’t have any seed who carry on our dads lineage. So they got their dad drunk and both daughters committed incest with their dad. Where your mowabites came from. His wife turned back and became a pillar of salt. A man that lost his wife, he lost his two children because he played a fool.

And the Bible says in the book of Peter, he says, he vexed his righteous soul with their unlawful deeds in seeing and hearing, seeing and hearing he vexed a broader curse upon his own life, his own family because he would not do right. Did he get away with it? No, he didn’t get away with it. He lost everything. He got out of there with the clothes on his back and then lost his wife, lost his kids, lost everything he had.

Was he saved? Yes, he was a righteous man. Not because he lived righteously. He was righteous in that he was a justified man, a man that believed in the Lord and trust the Lord. He was a saved man. So you see, the world here in verse 23 of chapter 18 is divided into destroy the righteous with the wicked, saved in the lost, saved in the lost. in the blood, God got the righteous in the art and then destroyed the world.

And then suddenly more, he got the righteous out because even the wife and the kids had believed in the Lord, but got him out and then destroyed the city. And they still had to deal with them because of their wickedness. You can’t live as you please and get away with it. No man can’t. For we will destroy this place because the cry of them is waxing great before the face of the Lord. and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.

And look what he says in verse 14. And Lot went out and spake unto his son-in-laws, which had married married his daughters and said, up get you out of this place. Well the Lord will destroy this city, but he seemed as one that mocked unto his son-in-law. His testimony was so shot they wouldn’t believe what he said. So he lost his son-in-laws. In other words, it was like mockery. And today, I believe that there’s people who laugh at Christianity, that we’re still waiting for the Lord to come back.

And the Bible said in Peter, talked about, and Mawker shall come in the last days, saying, where’s the promise of his coming? In other words, he promised he was coming. Where’s the fulfillment of it? And on the two thousand years later, we’re still waiting. But that’s okay. Okay. Every day we live, we’re just one day closer to the Lord coming. Every day we live, we’re one day closer to leaving this world, whether by rapture or by death. Every day you live, you go up one day closer, one day closer, one day closer.

2 Timothy 3, look there in verse 1. And verse 1 says, this know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. Men shall be lovers of their own selves. Cabbatus, boasters, prowl, blasphemers, disobedient to parents. Have you ever lived or seen or read about a time when children were so rebellious to their parents? And it’s the fighting, it’s the anger that bores up the temper, the rebellion, unthankfulness, all these things. And then look what he says in verse 4.

Traders, heady, high mind, at lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God. There’s a good separation of what people are doing in their lives. You either love a pleasure or a lover of God. Now you can have some pleasure in life as long as you love the Lord and put it first. But when the other outweighs the other and your goals are wrong, your motive is wrong, God’s going to deal. He says in verse 5, How did I form of God in this but denying the power thereof from such turnaway?

There is going to be religions that will have a form of godliness. They might talk about God. But to deny the power thereof, in the words, there’s no power except in the new birth. It’s all about it without the power. See, there’s power in the first resurrection, which is a reference to those that know Christ is Savior. He says, the second, there is no power. That’s in Revelation chapter 20. But here we are, looking at Scripture that’s kind of defining the time in which we live.

And this has already started back in His day. And so are we living in the last days? Yes. So did Paul live in the last days. We’re in the last days. Herless times shall come. And all this is happening. But look what he says there in verse 5. From such turn away, you should turn away from the religions that do not honor God because they don’t honor truth. truth. And then when he makes a statement in verse six about leading captive silly women laden with sins and lend away with divers lust.

In other words, today husbands ought to love their wives and wives ought to love their husbands. The men ought to stay faithful to their wives and the wives ought to stay faithful to their husbands and it just seems like it would work so much better, God’s way and it will. Marriages today 50% end up in divorce. Now that doesn’t speak too highly of our generation. And it doesn’t give you much confidence that people get in married today. It’s gonna last very long.

We don’t look at it as sinful. People living together not being married. Think of how wicked that is. But there’s people who just find their minds that, we know we’re just gonna try it and see if it works and if it doesn’t work then at least we didn’t get married. What is adultery? What is fornication? I mean, that’s sex outside of marriage. You’re not married. I’m married. Yes, I am. I am married. If you’re having sex and you’re not married, it’s adultery.

Is it right or wrong? Wrong. Who says so? God. He hasn’t changed. It doesn’t matter what the world says or the world does. This is what greed God is because they did whatever they wanted to do. But God saw that it was wicked. It was wicked. He says in verse 8, so do these also resist the truth. They resist the truth. This is why there are those today that resist the Bible. Did you know by Christians not coming to hear the word of God, they’re resisting the word of God?

If you don’t read the Bible and I’m studying the Bible, you’ll resist in the truth because you will not let it take an effect upon your life. And they want it out of the schools. They want it out of our country. They want it off everything that we have that made this country great. of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith and this is the way the world lives. God says it’s coming. It’s going to get worse and it’s going to get worse.

If all this is true, how are you and I supposed to live? But Paul says in spite of what the world may do and how they may think and the corrupt minds, he says in verse 10, Thou has fully known my doc. You know what I believe. You know the that I teach. He says, you know my manner of life, you know my purpose, you know my goal, you know my faith, you know my long suffering, you know my love, my patience, you know about the persecutions that I’ve gone through, all the afflictions that I’ve had in my body, which came unto me at Antioch and Iconium and Lystra, what persecutions I endured, It’s the I enjoyed that I endured But out of them all go to underlying dish out of them all out of them all the Lord delivered things I can write a little book too saying all the things that

I’ve gone through in my life and bloody I’ve been through some things. But the Lord has delivered me out of them all. Yay and all that will lift Godly in Christ you just shall suffer persecution. If you are not suffering persecution, it might be because you’re really not applying yourself to living Godly. You’re not witnessing maybe to enough people that’ll put you down and tell you to shut up mind your own business and leave them alone and get on with your life and get out of their life.

You knock on a few doors and have people say something. Now, if you don’t do none of that, no, no, you can just say all right through it. Nobody will say your name to you and you’ll be smooth as silk. But you start witnessing. You start taking a strong stand. You start saying this is right and that is wrong. But evil men and seduzers shall whack and you are on the line these two words, they’re not verse, worse and worse.

In verse 13, Deceiving and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou had learned and hath been assured of, knowing of home, thou has learned them. In other words, what are you and I supposed to do when the rest of the world was falling apart? Continue, just keeps on trying. Just keep doing right, just keep living the way you’re supposed to. It doesn’t matter if all the people in Noah’s days were doing wicked, Noah says, I’m going to walk with God.

And doesn’t matter what everybody else thinks about things. If it’s sinful, it’s sinful, and it’s wicked, it’s wicked, and you just feel right. But in verse 6 he says, all scriptures given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine and for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness. That the man of God, man of God may be perfect, complete, truly furnished unto all good words. You can keep doing right as long as you don’t get away from the book.

You’ve got a God. You’ve got a light. You’ve got the Word of God to guide you through the world in which you live. We live in a wicked time in society. So Jesus was born in a bad time. Moses was born in a bad time. Daniel was born in a bad time. Joseph was born in a bad time. We’re all born at that time because see this whole world is a bad world. It’s a sinful world. But we live in this world and we may not be able to change the world.

But you don’t have to let them change you. You can still walk with the Lord and do right and God will honor you for doing so. Let’s touch on it. How far do we do? Thank you so much for the opportunity we have as your children. I know the day is coming when things yes they get. As your word says, black’s worse and worse. A tribulation very coming. It’s not like anything in the past or it won’t be like anything in the future.

But when the Lord is grieved because of the wickedness of the people, in judgment upon the whole world, Father until then help us to go ahead and continue just to do right. And as no one walk in God, bless us each and every one. In Christ, may we pray. 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. 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’ll closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, 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 month will 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.

See, this is how people are in their life. They think, I don’t really need Mr. Love, I can keep the law. I can earn my way to heaven. Only got to do is be good. Do the best I can. I go to church and I live a good life and I pray and I do all these good deeds. Surely I’ll make it. And the law says you have to be perfect. And none of us are perfect. Nobody’s perfect. I got on an airplane one time out there in Colorado and I was coming out here to see Hank speaking the college he had here.

And on the way down here, this year a girl came on, I might have told you this story, I get old, I can’t hardly remember some time anymore. And I sit down on the plane there, and I says, Lord, I hope you bring me a victim. I mean, a person’s so that you sit beside me. So I can witness them. And this woman came on, dark skin, and she would dress with silk from the head to the foot. And then she walked.

The silk just floated around it. And she walked down the aisle, and I wondered where she was going to sit. Guess where she said, right beside me. So I began to talk to her, real nice. And I asked her the question of playing the book, and it took off, we got up there level off, you know. And I says, where are you from? She says, pay route. I says, where? She says, pay route. I says, you mean per route?

Yeah, pay route. I said, what are you doing in Denver? She says, my hiraji. I said, what? She says, my hiraji. I said, I thought, I didn’t say it to her. I said, I thought that big old facts, all of the sets around contemplating this navel. And I says, she says, yeah, meet me like love, I’m my right gene. And I says, okay, so much for all of that. I said, where are you gonna go in your diet? She said, I’ll meet go to heaven.

I said, you’re gonna go to heaven. She said, yeah, yeah, great, good. So how do you know? She said, meet perfect. I said, what? She says, meet perfect. I said, no, you’re not perfect. She said, yeah, I’m you perfect. No, I’ve never had anybody say they were perfect. She said, meet perfect. No, no, you’re not perfect. Nah, yeah, I mean. I can’t get him saved and I can get him lost. I gotta get this girl lost. So she would write something in her language and try to get a little bulk and she’d write it some meaning and she’d try to say it in my language and she’d write a little bit and she’d write a little bit and she’d write a little bit.

So I finally said, hey, I said, you know perfect. Yeah. I said, no you’re not. I said, you ready? I said, then you make a mistakey. You turn the eraser over and you erasey. And on the plane she goes, hey! The steward is coming running from both directions on the plane. The guy doesn’t attack this girl. She wouldn’t talk to me the rest of the trip. All because I showed her she wasn’t perfect. I would think that would be the easiest thing in the world.

Listen, I don’t care how good you are. You’re not perfect. To go to heaven, you understand, you’ve got to be perfect. Go in the church. How does that make you perfect? It doesn’t. It doesn’t. So just because you’re good on something doesn’t make you perfect, it’s righteous as God. So there is the law and the law condemns you and we’re all condemned. All the world is guilty before God because we’ve all sinned and come short of God’s perfection. That’s the way we are.

And there is only one way, one way out of this mess. And that’s the way that God puts it right here in this book. Now over here we have Mr. Love. Mr. Love comes and he was made of a woman made under the law. that the law had jurisdiction over him. And he kept the law perfectly so that Mr. Law couldn’t condemn him, couldn’t condemn him because he was perfect. Jesus is Mr. Love who came into the world and was born of a woman, made under the law in due time, and fulfilled the law.

He did not come to destroy the law, Bye-bye. He came to fulfill the law, and by keeping the law, he had no claims upon him. So he makes a deal. I am willing, since I did not sin, I don’t have to die. I will pay their debt. I am willing to die. See, all the law wants is a payment, a death payment for sin. You see, she doesn’t have to stop her sins. She doesn’t have to quit sinning or turn from sin to be saved.

She has to die for her sins. She has to die. What’s the wages of sin? That she has to die. You see, you can’t get a new birth till you have the death of the old one. The old one has to die first before you can get the birth of the new one. she doesn’t want to die. So he satisfies the law. That’s the word we get propitiation. It means that God is satisfied with the payment Christ made. The law is satisfied with the payment Christ made because it was for all the sin of all the world at one time.

So all the sins of everybody have already been paid. The law is satisfied, God is satisfied, and the last one that has to be satisfied with it is you. Will you believe that he did it for you and get this? Even though she made I think he’s better looking than him She can’t commit herself to another man as long as she’s bound to this man duh She’s married to this man. She’s not free. He’s not dead. She’s not dead.

She’s not free to marry that guy or love that guy That’s why you cannot tell a lost man Will you commit your life to Christ in order to be saved? Because she can’t commit herself to another man So she’s free from this man simple So, preachers that are telling people that you’ve got to commit your life to Christ, lordship, salvation. It’s totally impossible. Not possible. And you don’t have to turn from sin to be shayed because you have to die for those.

So he goes to him and dies under the law. Well, smitten pays for all the sins of all the world. Comes back from the dead. She now has a choice. There is no other way. She either accepts that payment that he made or she goes to hell. She has no other hope. There is no other possibilities. She cannot deliver herself. She cannot save herself. There’s nothing she can do is accept the payment he made for her. And when she accepts that payment, that death payment he made is put to her account And she is dead for the law is concerned.

Now let’s just pretend this little lady said it right here. So I realized I can’t save myself. I can’t deliver myself from the condemnation of the law. But I believe he did it for me. She don’t have to love him for the payment to be put to her account. Nobody was saved because you love God. We’re saved because he loved us and paid for our sins. All that she has to do, all that she can do is simply accept the payment he made.

So when she accepts that death payment, this is what happens. Picture for a moment, Christ on the cross. When Christ was on that cross, he was not there for his sins. He was there for our sins. So when I believe that he did it for me, the Bible says I was like taken and placed by the Holy Spirit of God and placed into the body of Christ. And on that cross I died and I paid for my sins. I was buried and I came back again from the dead.

Though I didn’t really do it, Christ did it for me. I was crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. What He did was put to your account. So the moment she accepted Him as her Savior, His death put to her account, she’s dead. The law can never condemn her again. Why can’t the law condemn her? Because the law can’t condemn I’m a dead person.

Once she has saved and free from the condemnation of the law, he can never touch her again. Never. Now, now that she’s saved, free from the law has eternal life, whenever she died because of his death, she also was raised again to walk in what? Nudness of life. But see, the new birth is because she accepted a death. You have to have the death of the old man in order to get the birth of the new man. And God says in verse 11, likewise, reckoned this to be true.

Believe that it’s true because in God’s eyes, judicially, this is what happened in the court of heaven. God accepted that payment. He was satisfied to put that payment to her come and she gets to go to heaven on what he did. She did absolutely nothing for this. She didn’t earn for it or earn it. She didn’t work for it. She didn’t have to change anything. Nothing. You see, if here’s a man, here’s a man right here. He’s a drunker.

Does he have to quit his drinking for God to save him? No. A man’s on drugs. Does he have to quit his drugs in order for God to save him? A thousand times, no. A man living in sin, adultery every night with different women. He had to quit his sins for God to save him. No! To say anything other is to deny the grace of God. Don’t understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is good news that a man can be saved by grace and grace alone and he cannot earn it.

So when she trusts Christ as her Savior, she now has a choice. As a free person, free from the condemnation of the law. Over here is Mr. Love. She can voluntarily. Now, as a child of God, she can commit, yield her life to the one that died for her, but she don’t have to. If she chooses to, she’ll be blessed. If she doesn’t, she’s going to suffer consequences in this life, and they’re not going to be pretty. and she’ll suffer loss of rewards that she could have when she gets to heaven.

But let’s just pretend for the sake of this. Trinity. She says, as she finds out more and more about who he is and what he’s like, she finds out that he is not only just and holy and good and spiritual. He says, now here’s what I want you to do. If you want to serve me, you don’t have to, but it’s choose to. It’s a reasonable thing. I want you to take and wash the dishes, cut the grass, and make the beds and everything else I tell you to do.

And she thinks, now, wait a minute, I heard that before. Now the righteousness of the law could not be fulfilled by her when she was here. Now she’s here. And he wants the same thing, a holy life. Well, you see, he couldn’t give any mercy in grace, but Mr. Love says, when you fail, I want you to know, I’ll never leave you and I’ll never forsake you. He says, I’m gonna help you do everything that you need to do.

My grace will be sufficient. I will always be with you. And when you mess up, I’ll forgive you. I am full of grace and truth and mercy and love everything she’s ever wanted. She can find it right there with Mr. Love and now she can serve the Lord because of what he’s done for her in view of what he’s done for us. We’re supposed to serve him, but I don’t have to. I’m free from the law. And you and I are supposed to live our life as though our old man was buried.

Like you don’t even have an old sin for nature. You do. But you’re to live like he’s dead. And you don’t have to fulfill any of his desires. And you can yield yourself to him. That’s why he says we’re no longer under the law. Why? you died and now you’re under grace. So look there in verse 14. For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the law, but under grace. You’re free from him. You’re under grace now.

Grace means to do it because you love him because of what he’s done for you. Now take your Bible looking verse three of Romans chapter seven. Romans chapter seven. three. So then, if while her husband live it, she be married to another man, she shall be called and adulterers. But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law so that she is no adulterers, though she be married to another man. See if he’s, he didn’t die, but she died.

So when she came back, she’s free, she’s free to marry. Right? Because she died, she’s free from the first one. And that’s why he makes this statement in verse four, Wherefore my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead. Now remember, I didn’t make up this story. This is not a Yankee made up story. This is the Bible type to teach chapter six, so that we could understand it.

So, because she was married, she died, she’s free because of him, and now she can serve the Lord. Now get what he says in the last part of verse 4, Who is raised from the debt that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Remember, between God and the Old Testament, the law, and Israel, God wanted Israel to produce fruits of righteousness as a righteous nation and a righteous nation Guts as it exalt you But sin is a reproach unto any people But Israel did not produce the fruits of righteousness When Christ came He wanted the fruits of righteousness when he talked to the Pharisees and John the Baptist was in Matthew chapter 3 bring forth the fruits for righteousness.

They didn’t have the fruit. And now whenever you trust Christ as your Savior and you yield yourself to the Lord, then God wants there to be fruits of righteousness. Now since you know Christ as your Savior, are you bringing forth the fruit of righteousness in your life? Well the things that you do, they’re right or do you still have sin in your life you need to deal with. But look what he says in the last part of this verse 5.

For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sin, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were held that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oneness of the letter and everything in your life should be different and it should be that you walk in newness of life. According to Romans in chapter 6 and verse 4.

Thank you, y’all can go have a seat now. Thank you. Give him a hand, I appreciate it. Now I would like to get to my sermon. The Bible tells us that the law cannot save. The law was never mentioned or given for the purpose of saving. The law was given to show you and I that we’re sinners and cannot save ourselves. Take your Bible, look over there in the book of Galatians and chapter two. Galatians and chapter two. And Galatians and chapter two, looking verse 16, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law.

You see that? But by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. She would never be able to justify herself by her works. Because you see, if you’re going to keep the law, you have to keep all the law, not some of the law, not most of the law, all the law.

Look down in verse 10, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, and cursing is everyone that continues not in all things which are written therein. You can’t pick and choose. You have to keep all the law continuously all your life. You know anybody like that? Then they can’t save themselves by their works. That have to be perfect. That’s why you need a Savior. The law points us to Christ.

But look what he says down in verse 19 of chapter 2. For I, through the law and what? Dead to the law. That means the law can never condemn me again. There’s no condemnation to those that are in Christ. So once you’ve trusted Christ as your Savior, you have eternal life, your God’s chum. You can never go to hell in the future. Isn’t that good news? I can never be condemned again. The law can never touch me again. Now, here in Galatians in chapter three, what in the world was the purpose of the law?

Look in verse 19. Wherefore, seeing in verse 19. Wherefore then served with the law, it was added because of transgression, because of sin. Till the seed, which is Christ, should come to whom the promise was made. God made a promise to Abraham, saying he’s gonna justify the heathen by faith. What why did God give the law? Well, nobody would trust Christ as their Savior if they thought they could save themselves by their works. So God gave a standard of righteousness and said, there it is, you can’t do it.

1500 years, no man ever did till Christ came. And the law could not condemn him. And that’s why he was able to give himself as a payment for everyone else because he wasn’t guilty. Now look what he says here in verse 21, is the law then against the promise of God? God forbid that same is said, no. For if there had been a law given which could have given life very, righteousness should have been how. By the law, if you could earn eternal life, that’s the way it ought to be.

But you can’t. So it has to be by grace. So then in verse 24, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. So the law points you and I to Christ. The law cannot forgive you and the law cannot have mercy. The law cannot show grace. The law cannot do any of those things and have compassion. But grace through Christ can. So you and I, we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I always use the law when I’m talking to a lost man. Are you perfect? Well, I think I’m pretty good. I shall love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, mind, body, soul and strength. If you’ve done that, all your life continuously, will that break? Oh no. thou shalt not lie. Have you ever told a lie? Well, all of them once or twice. I’d use the law to convince a man he’s a sinner. The law and its law was designed for the flesh, not for the Godly man, not for the spiritual man.

So you and I, because we have two natures, I got two births, don’t live in one body in this whole world, when I walk after the flesh, the law can still slap me upside to head, still a price to be paid in this life. But if you’ll walk in the spirit, then God’s going to give you the blessings that you ought to have. And did you want to have the best news and all the world? I want to close with one verse.

I want you to see it. In Romans in chapter 11, Romans chapter 11, in Romans chapter 11, look in verse 6, and if by grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise grace is no more grace. If it be of work, then it is no more grace. Otherwise work is no more work. See, my coat off, that’s grace. My coat on, that’s works. And if it is by grace, then it cannot be by works. Otherwise, grace is in grace.

But if it is by works, it cannot be by grace. Otherwise, work isn’t work, isn’t it clear? Means it’s either by grace or by work. It can’t be both ways. So God says it’s by grace or by work. And Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, if you know this verse, quote it with me, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. It’s not of works, lest any man should boast.

That’s the best news in all the world. But you see, now that I have trusted Christ as my Savior and I’m free from the condemnation of the law, I made it my mind years ago. I may not have to serve the Lord, but I want to. I want to. I have fallen in love with the one who died for me, and I want a pliegent and I want a servant. But he loved me that much that he would save me without making me promise I had to love him back.

He would save me. I didn’t have to promise to clean up my life, but after I got to know him I wanted to. You see you can’t make people spiritual Can’t make people holy and godly you can’t make somebody love God That’s a decision everybody has to make on their own. It’s kind of like, I don’t, I catch the fish, let God clean them. Then I realize, I can’t even catch the fish. I just put the hook out there in the bait and God catches the fish.

It’s still His word. It’s so important for you and I to understand how precious the Lord I’ll be to every one of us. Let me show you something. You haven’t seen this since probably last week. This is you and me. This is sin. We all have sin on us. And God says that He loves us, but He hates our sin. And God gave the law. And it condemns us because we got sin. So every man who sins condemned by the law, wages sin is death.

We all have to die. It’s been eternity separated from God in hell. But to go to heaven, you have to be perfect, as righteous as God. And nobody’s perfect. None of us are. We cannot save ourselves. It’s not by any works. This end represents Jesus Christ. This is Mr. Love. He came into the world. He had no sin, didn’t have to die. But it came because he loved us. He hates our sin because it separates us from him. So what Christ did for one, he did for all he took all the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead.

And God said that if we would believe that he did it for us, it put that payment to our account and we get to go to heaven on what he did for us. For God, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. The whosoever, they leave it. It’s all He has to do. Should not perish, won’t go to hell, but have everlasting life. You go to heaven on what He did. If you hear this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, I hope that you will.

Let’s pray, shall we? Heads bowed nice, clothes, and no one looking around. Why not take just a moment, talk to the Lord, and say something simple like this? God knows your thoughts, you don’t make a mistake, you’re not promising something, you’re not gonna quit anything. Just, Lord, I’m a sinner, that’s what I am. Friend, that’s what we all are. Just a matter of the midnight before God, God, I’m a sinner. And I believe Christ that you died on that cross and paid from my sins.

And right now the best I know how. I trust you as my Savior. I believe you did it for me. And friend, God said, if you’ll believe He did it for you, He puts that payment to your account and you’ll go to heaven whenever you die. I’m going to ask you in just a moment to raise your hand. Raising your hand doesn’t save you. It’s just to let me know that what I said made sense to you. I’m not going to have you forward.

I’m not going to embarrass you. I’ll write where you’re sitting. The quietness of this moment. Is there anyone at all say, yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior and preach your life for you to pray for me. We’ll just slip you in it very quickly, put it right back down, see what it’s all. You say, I’ve heard about it all my life, but I’ve never trusted Christ as my Savior. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, God’s child, you’re to live by grace, means live under the power and the influence and the love that Christ had for you, and let that motivate you.

You’re no longer under the law. You don’t have to do anything. You’re free from the condemnation of the law. It can never condemn you again. Our Father, we ask Your blessings upon each person here, upon the Church, and pray to Lord Your will to be done. We thank you for this time together in Christ’s name. Amen. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message.

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

The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at six o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.org. Thanks for joining us on Bible Live. And now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. 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 1-800-800-800-800-800. 776-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline 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 and turn to the book of Romans in chapter 6. Romans chapter 6. I enjoy the book of Romans. I’ll have to admit in my early days of my Christian life, I had a little problem with chapter six. Said a lot of things, I didn’t understand. And so I know that if you read Romans, you might have had the same problem. So I want to give you something that helps me to understand the Scriptures, just a little bit better.

I believe this will help you understand the difference between law and grace. I’ve heard a lot of people talk about law and grace. And after they get through, I’m not sure they understand anything they said. I just kind of sometimes get mixed up. Is a man saved by grace or is he saved by his works? And if he is saved by grace, then why did God give the law? Well, I’ve got an answer. Romans chapter 6, look in verse 1.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin? That grace may abound. God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer than they’re in? My question, huh, that we shall we, that are dead descend, living along the other end. From dead descend. Now how do I explain that? Sure seems pretty much alive in my life. Verse 3, no you’re not that so many of us as were baptized in the Jesus Christ was baptized unto his death.

Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like his Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from sin.

Now if we meet dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ been raised from the dead, die of no more. Death have no more dominion over us for in that he died. He died once on the sin and but in that he lived, he lived under God. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed, on the sin, but alive under God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey in the lust thereof.

Neither ye or ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but you are under grace. What does that mean? What does that mean? It sounds like an awful lot. But when you get through, you don’t know if you are any more spiritually minded than you were when you first started it.

I struggle with verses sometime. And sometimes like sitting down and eating a meal and mashed potatoes is no problem, the beans and everything else. And then you get a piece of meat and then you get a piece of gristle and you can’t chew it and it lodges and you can’t swallow it. And some people just go ahead and die right there. When you’re studying the Bible and you come across a gristle, well, spit it out and eat some of the other stuff.

And after a while you’ll find out there’s a knife over here and there’s a fork over here and you go right and you can right-lead the word. And now I can understand it. Oh, that’s better. It tastes pretty good. You don’t have to get choked Well, how do you explain these verses? What does it really mean when it says you’re no longer under the law and We’re under grace. What does it mean to under grace? I? mean they’re nice phrases But what do you mean?

I Want to use an illustration that I think will help you to get the point I Wanted to find somebody that would be just perfect just perfect to be the first guy. And so I’m going to ask Chris over here if he’ll come up here and sit right there in that chair right there. Now I have not talked to you about this, have I? No. But look how… He dresses impeccable. I mean the guy is just one sharp dude.

And I’m going to do something for you today that nobody has done for you. I’m going to get you married. Now y’all just hold on. He says he’s 30 years old and he doesn’t have a girlfriend. Well, maybe he doesn’t have a wife. He might have a lot of girlfriends I don’t know about. Is there a girl here named Kyla? Kyla, where’s Kyla? Where? She’s in the back. What about Amanda? Is Amanda in here? Where? Amanda, get up here.

I just need an illustration. You don’t have to say anything. You don’t have to do anything. All you gotta do is just sit there and look pretty. That’s all you have to do. Now I want you to just say right now. Now this is a little lady she represents the nation of Israel. Israel is representative of all the people in the world. We’re all lost. We’re lost. Over here he represents the law. Now I want Don’t you take your Bible and turn all the way over there to the book of Exodus, the book of Exodus and chapter 19.

Exodus and chapter 19. And the Lord is talking to Moses and telling him what he did for the nation of Israel. It says in verse 3, and Moses went up unto God and the Lord called him out of the mountain saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel, ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bear you on eagles’ wings, brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be able to cure your people unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine.

You shall be an enemy, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shall speak unto the children of Israel. Moses came, called for the elders of the people, laid before them their faces, all their words, these words which the Lord commanded him, and all the people answered together and said, all that the Lord had spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. Sounds like a marriage if I’ve ever heard one.

Jehovah God takes Israel to be his wife. It says, now I’ve got some commandments. And if you’ll do what I tell you to do, and I’m going to make a covenant with you, boy, is it going to be great for you? And it says here in verse eight, and all the people answered together, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do. I do, I do, married. So God has taken Israel to be his wife. She says, and all girls, whether they say it or not, want to get married.

She says, boy, if I could just find the perfect man, the perfect man. Remember, that’s how you got married. You thought you found the perfect man. Now you know better, but it’s too late. But if she could just find the perfect man, I will do anything you say. All you command I will do. But look over here. This is Mr. Law. Now, Mr. Law is a good man. Let me just kind of give you some of his descriptions. Take your Bible look here in the book of Romans in chapter seven.

Romans and chapter seven. And you’ll notice that it gives us a pretty good description of this fella and it says here in verse 12. Wherefore Mr. Law, I’m paraphrasing it just a little bit from yankiology. Wherefore Mr. Law is holy. Oh, look up here. He’s holy and Mr. Law is good and just. Ain’t nothing wrong with him. He’s holy, he’s good and he’s just. You couldn’t find a better man in all your life. Except right there. Now get this, look at verse 14.

For we know that Mr. Law is spirit, if you can’t beat that, he’s not only all of that, he’s spiritual. So that’s what you’re looking for to men, not even that. He’s tall, good looking and handsome. Got a lot of money, and the Bible says there’s nothing wrong with Mr. Law. All the good qualities you’d ever want doesn’t do anything wrong. She says, if I could just find the right man, I will. So she says, all that he says, I will do married.

Now she’s married to Mr. Law. And Mr. Law says, I want you to wash the dishes, make the bed, cut the grass, lays down about 10 things he wants her to do. So she tries and she does a good job. She washes the dishes and makes them sparkle in. She got those done. She cuts the grass, got that done, makes the bed, cleans the house. There’s all these wonderful things. He comes home and he looks at the dishes. There’s a spot on the dish.

Nothing gets past his eye. The grass is not all cut exactly the same height. There’s a wrinkle in the bed. There’s dust on the windowsill, and that’s not angel dust either. It didn’t matter what she did, he found fault with it. And all he could do was condemn her. She said, I’ll try harder tomorrow. So she gets more frustrated because the harder she tries, the worse it gets, and she cannot please the law. So at one time when she thought she was alright, now she found out she’s all wrong.

She never does anything right. Have you ever been married to a guy that he’s always right and you’re always wrong? wrong. Nobody like that here, huh? But he’s always right. And guess what? She’s always wrong. And it doesn’t matter how hard she tries, she keeps failing. So he has to break the news to her. Says, thou shalt die. She doesn’t want to die. The law says, the soul That sineth shall die. She has to die. Why? Because she’s not perfect.

Now, there’s no problem with Mr. Law. Because he is holy and he is just and he is good and he is spiritual. Nothing wrong with Mr. Law. Where’s the problem over here? I don’t mean that in a bad way. There’s the problem is that she represents all of us. We are all sinners. We have come short of Mr. Law’s perfection. We can’t fulfill everything he demands. We fail. And it doesn’t matter how hard you try, you can never change Mr.

Law’s mind. The wages of sin is death. So in all who sin, all must die. So the law has those 10 commandments. And those 10 commandments is his standard of righteousness. He doesn’t change. He’s always right. The problem is that we are weak in the flesh and we cannot fulfill the righteous perfect demands of the law. So the law must condemn us. And she goes to him and she says, can you show me just a little mercy? And Mr.

Law says, I don’t have mercy. I’m law. What about just a little grace? He said, I don’t have grace, I’m law. All I want is just a little wrong. I don’t have love, I’m law. What about forgiveness? I don’t give forgiveness, I’m law. Nobody seems to understand how bad it is for her. How bad it is for you, for me. We cannot get grace and mercy and love and kindness and forgiveness from the law. He’s law. It’s got to be right or else.

It’s the death penalty. The wages of sin is death. She has that has to be death. She says, I don’t want to die. So she begins to search the scriptures. And lo and behold, look there in Romans in chapter 7 verse 1. Says, no ye not brethren, for I speak to them that know the law. How that nugget this, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth. For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he what?

There’s the key. As long as he’s alive. The woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. as he lives. So her only way of getting free is wait for him to kick the bucket. And there’s probably people right here waiting for him to kick the bucket. So she’s waiting for him to kick the bucket so she can be free from him. Because she knows it’s a hopeless case. This is what you would call we’re incompatible. He’s always right.

She’s always wrong wrong and the two can never get together. It’s always going to be this way. She cannot satisfy the demands of the law. So all she has to do is wait for him to die. There, that’ll take care of that. Then she can start looking around. But we’ve got a problem. He is just and holy and good and spiritual, he can’t sin. If he can’t sin, he can’t die. You’re stuck, girl. See, she can’t get out of this.

How can you get free from the law? There isn’t a way to get free from the law. Look at the last part of that verse. Verse 2 again, for the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lived it. But if the husband be dead, She is loose from the law of her husband. Ta-da! But he won’t die. She has to die. She doesn’t want to die. Now little did she know that from the time she was born into this world, there was another man that’s loved her.

Loved her all her life, but she wouldn’t look at him. You know the difference between puppy love and the real thing? Puppy love is where you just look at each other. Oh. That’s where the puppy love turned into a dog’s life. You know I had a dog one time, he didn’t have any legs. Every night I took him out for a drag. You know what the dog said? Rough. Y’all get that after a while. They’re slow but you’re all right, you’re coming right along.

But you got to understand this so that it will help you in your Christian life. It will open up some of the scriptures and it’s like turn the light bulb on. So how can she get free from Mr. Law? There’s another guy that’s always loved her. And so I need another guy. What about there’s a guy named Arthur in here? There’s Arthur. Come on, dear brother, we’re going to get her out of this mess. This is the only hope she has.

It’s the only hope that any of us have, just have a seat over there. You don’t have to say anything, you don’t do anything, just look pretty. Now over here we have Mr. Love. She over here we had Mr. Law. There’s nothing wrong with him. But Mr. Love was, see, you got to watch these triangles. always get in trouble. But see, Mr. Love, he has always admired her and loved her, but see, she chose this man. She says, I can do this.

And so she thinks, by her works, she’ll be all right. See, this is how people are in their life. They think, I don’t really need Mr. Love. I can keep the law. I can earn my way to heaven. All I got to do is be good. the best I can. I go to church and I live a good life and I pray and I do all these good deeds. Surely I’ll make it. And the law says you have to be perfect and none of us are perfect.

Nobody’s perfect. I got on an airplane one time out there in Colorado and I was coming down here to see Hank speaking the college he had here. And on the way down here, this here at Girl Kimon, I might have told you this story but I get old. I can’t hardly remember sometime anymore. And I sit down on the plane there and I says Lord, I hope you bring me a victim. I mean a person so they set beside me so I can witness them.

And this woman came on, dark skin, and she was dressed with silk from the head to the foot. And as she walked, the silk just floated around it. And she walked down the aisle and I wondered where she was going to sit. Guess where she said, right beside me. So I began to talk to her. Real nice. And I asked her the question of planning to took off. We got up there, level off, you know. says, um, where are you from?

She says, pay route. I says, where? She says, pay route. I said, me, Peru. Yeah, pay route. I said, what are you doing in Denver? She says, my Raji. I said, what? She says, my Raji. I said, I thought, I didn’t say it to us. I thought that big old fact fellow that sits around contemplating this naval. And I says, she says, meet me, meet me like, love, my Raji. And I says, okay, so much for all of I said, where are you going to go in your day?

She said, I’ll meet go to heaven. I said, you’re going to go to heaven. She said, yeah, yeah. Great. Good. So how do you know? She said, me perfect. I said, what? She says, me perfect. I said, no, you’re not perfect. She said, yeah, I’m me perfect. No, I’ve never had anybody say they were perfect. She said, me perfect. No, no, you’re not perfect. Nah, yeah, me. I can’t get them saved. And I can get them lost. I got to get this girl lost.

So she would write something in her language and try to get a little bulk, and she’d write up some meaning, and she’d try to say it in my language, and she’d write a little bit, she’d write a little bit, and you’d write a little bit. So I finally said, hey, I said, you know perfect. Yeah? I said, no you’re not. I said, you ready? I says, then you make a mistakey? You turn the eraser over and you erasey. And on the plane she goes, KLEEE!

The steward is coming running from both directions on the plane. Well, I didn’t attack this girl. She wouldn’t talk to me the rest of the trip. all because I showed us you wasn’t perfect. I would think that would be the easiest thing in the world. Listen, I don’t care how good you are. You’re not perfect. To go to heaven, you understand? You gotta be perfect. Go in the church. How does that make you perfect? It doesn’t. It doesn’t. So just because you’re good on something doesn’t make you perfect as righteous as God.

So there is the law and the law condemns you and we’re all condemned. All the world is guilty before God because we’ve all sinned and come short of God’s perfection. That’s the way we are. And there is only one way, one way out of this mess. And that’s the way that God puts it right here in this book. Now, over here we have Mr. Love. Mr. Love comes and he was made of a woman, made under the law so that the law had jurisdiction over him.

And he kept the law perfectly so that Mr. Law couldn’t condemn him, couldn’t condemn him, because he was perfect. Jesus is Mr. Love, who came into the world and was born of a woman, made under the law, in due time, and fulfilled the law, he did not come to destroy the law, he came to fulfill the law. And by keeping the law, he had no claims upon him. So he makes a deal. I am willing, since I did not sin, I don’t have to die.

I will pay their debt. I am willing to die. See, all the law wants is a payment, a death payment, for sin. You see, she doesn’t have to stop her sins. She doesn’t have to quit sinning or turn from sin to be saved. She has to die for her sins. She has to die. What’s the wages in that she has to die? You see, you can’t get a new birth till you have the death of the old one. The old one has to die first before you can get the birth of the new one.

And she doesn’t want to die. So he satisfies the law. That’s the word we get propitiation. It means that God is satisfied with the payment Christ made. The law is satisfied with the payment Christ made because it was for all the sin of all the world at one time. So all the sins of everybody have already been paid. The law is satisfied, God is satisfied, and the last one that has to be satisfied with it is you. Will you believe that he did it for you?

And get this, even though she may think he’s better looking than him. She can’t commit herself to another man. As long as she’s bound to this man. She’s married to this man. She’s not free. He’s not dead. She’s not dead. She’s not free to marry that guy. I love that guy. That’s why you cannot tell a lost man. Will you commit your life to Christ in order to be saved? Because she can’t commit herself to another man. So she’s free from this man.

Simple. So preachers that are telling people that you got to commit your life to Christ, lordship, salvation, it’s totally impossible. Not possible. And you don’t have to turn from sin to be saved because you have to die for those. So he goes to him and dies under the law. Well smitten pays for all the sins of all the world. Comes back from the dead. She now has a choice.ffects. There is no other way. She either accepts that payment that he made or she goes to hell.

She has no other hope. There is no other possibilities. She cannot deliver herself. She cannot save herself. There’s nothing she can do is accept the payment he made for her. And when she accepts that payment, that death payment he made is put to her account and she is dead for the lost concern. Now let’s just pretend this little lady sitting right here, so that I realize I can’t save myself. I can’t deliver myself from the condemnation of the law, but I believe he did it for me.

She don’t have to love him for the payment that he put to her account. Nobody was saved because you love God. We’re saved because he loved us and paid for our sins. All that she has to do, all that she can do simply accept the payment he made. So when she accepts that death payment, this is what happens. Picture for a moment. Christ on the cross. When Christ was on that cross, he was not there for his sins. He was there for our sins.

So when I believe that he did it for me, the Bible says I was like taken and placed by the Holy Spirit of God and placed into the body of Christ. And on that cross, I died and I paid for my sins. I was buried and I came back again from the dead. Though I didn’t really do it, Christ did it for me. I was crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

What he did was put to your account. So the moment she accept him as her Savior, his death put to her account, she’s dead. The law can never condemn her again. Why can’t the law condemn her? Because the law can’t condemn a dead person. Once she has saved and freed from the condemnation of the law, he can never touch her again. 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. Our two of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our home page.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 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. 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 the- 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 year. 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.

So whenever you and I understand that our good days, all we talk about how blessed we are of God. But those bad days are the days that God is spending time causing us to deepen our roots into the Word of God. So it’s not wasted time. So every one of us may flower at times, but he says, there’s other time, and he says, I’ve got your root system going deep and I want you to hang on to what the Word of God says and so your faith grips this rock and your faith grips this rock and this one goes down 20 feet and grips a whole of this verse and This one gets a whole of this verse so that whenever you really start to grow He says in the wind start coming.

He says the root system is what sustains you He says when you want to be a strong Christian and we talk about this last Sunday night about standing or hauling I was talking about you can’t stand if you don’t have a deep root system So your roots in the word of God has to go deep and just like that bamboo It might seem like a year go by two years three years for you times of law nothing exciting But it’s not lost time.

It’s because God is spending time giving you experiences So the good things all we love the blessings of God, but the bad days Are not really bad days But we look at them as bad days Now those bad days is where we’re gaining experience that will deepen our relationship with the Lord and cause us to be a stronger Christian. And then whenever your roots go deep, you can grow and be higher. And the man says, Lord, how high can I rise?

He said, well, how high can the bamboo tree rise? He says, as high as it can. He says, that’s what I want for you. I don’t quit on you. I want you to rise and give me glory as high as you can. Just be faithful and God will bless. And I believe that the Lord will. Now, remember this, because we often think about the bad days. And it’s amazing that many times on our calendar, we can’t remember certain days unless something happened on that day that really helps us to remember.

Sometimes good things happen. We can remember that day. Sometimes bad things happen and we remember those days. And we learn a lot of lessons in bad days or bad times, I guess you could say. But remember, there was a boy named Joseph. He happened to have had 11 brothers. How would you like to have been Joseph with 11 older brothers and the older brothers hated you? And hated him without a ca- he hadn’t done anything wrong. They just didn’t agree with what he said.

They just didn’t like him because, well, daddy seemed to like him more, made him a special code of many colors, showed little special favoritism. And he said, that’s not right. Yeah, but look what Joseph had to go through. Did you know that all those years of what happened to Joseph and going down into Egypt? And yet at the same time, God simply was building the root system so that the man Joseph could stand strong and do right. And God blessed him with wisdom because he did do right.

He served the Lord. He put God first. And even when Pharaoh’s wife made advances to him, you know what he did? The Bible says he grabbed his coat and what? Phew, he ran. Now he could have become a wicked man. He said, how can I do such a wicked thing to a God who knows and loves me? How can I do this to Pharaoh? No, he wouldn’t do that. Because he loved the Lord. But all these years root systems are growing.

And it seems like at times it seemed like it’s a waste of time. How many years passed when he was about 16, 17 years old when this happened to him? Did he ask for that? No. And then to think, he was the Lord. He used those 11 brothers and made them tribes. And we have the 12 tribes of Israel because Joseph and an Ephraim and Manassam. And you talking about, look what God did with people that were so messed up.

You know why God didn’t use perfect people? There aren’t any of those. If God didn’t use sinners, say by grace, there wouldn’t be anybody for God to use. So God has figured it all out. I’m so glad he did. Did God make a mistake when he gave you the right to choose? Here’s the Lord. He gave you and made the right of choice. He saved you, gave you eternal life, and then set you free to live. Now you got the freedom to choose to serve the Lord or not to serve the Lord.

How did you do with your choice? You have a choice to read God’s word or not to read God’s word. What kind of a decision did you make? You have a choice to witness for the Lord or not to witness for the It gave you choices. Set you free. You can choose. Did God make a mistake? Did He trust you too far? Did you let Him down? Did you fail? You think it’s worth it? Did God make a mistake when He left you here, said, taping you on home?

Did God make a mistake? I don’t want to live my whole life thinking that God blew it on me. God really messed up when He saved me and left me here. I want to serve Him, and I want to serve Him all the days of my life, and I pray that that is what you want also. Whenever you think about the twelve disciples, Christ spent three and a half years at least with His disciples, taught them, walk with them, did all of this.

I guess you could say He had a youth group, and He spent time with them. And then whenever it was all over with it, the big test came, they all fell. They all fell their final exam because it says in the scriptures that they all forsook him, every one of them did. But Peter, remember him, God bless Peter. He said, Lord, though everybody forsake you, I won’t. I will never forsake you. The Lord says before the night’s over, you’re going to deny me three times.

Nah, not me. I don’t know what everybody else is going to do, but I’m rock solid. You know, Peter’s roots were not very deep. It didn’t last the night, did it? It didn’t last the night. Because before the night was over with, he’d done messed up, done messed up. And can you believe that Jesus and Peter exchange a glimpse at each other? You know, I often thought that he was, he was Peter and he denied the Lord. But Jesus was out of sight and he was set by the fire and somebody says something that says, hey, you’re one of them.

I don’t know the man and he cursed, cursed. I don’t know the man. You remember right before this, he was willing to die for the man? No, I don’t even know the guy. And it happened three times. Did you know on the last time, and it’s only mentioned in the one gospel that Jesus looked Peter, look at him. And Peter saw him after he denied him three times. And it came into his mind and he wept. Because he knew what he had promised.

And literally he knew that within a few hours he was going to let the Lord down so bad. You talking about failure. Did God make a mistake with Peter? Did He make a mistake with him? Look how bad he blew it. And yet God still used Peter on the day of Pentecost. What a great honor to use this man. See, God didn’t use a man because he was perfect. God used a man because he really, I’d have messed up, I accepted, and then make things right with the Lord.

And when Jesus came to him, He says, Peter, they says, do you love me? How many times did He ask Peter, do you love me? Three times. Oh, no, I did it three times. You got any clue? How many times did He be named? Three times? I think there’s something there. Now you know, I want you to take your Bible look there in the book of Luke in chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. You know, one time there was a girl.

She was blind. A girl was blind. She hated herself. She hated the world. She hated everything and everybody hated God because she was blind. She hated everybody and everything except her boyfriend, except her boyfriend. And he asked her, says, Will you marry me? me? She says, if I can see the world, if I could just see the world, I’d marry you. Somebody miraculously donated her some eyes. The surgery was a success and she could see. Totally changed her outlook on life.

And a boyfriend asked her, says, Now that you can see, will you marry me?” And she looked at him and she was shocked. She didn’t know he was blind. And she says, there’s too much of the world that I want to see. I don’t want to spend my life tied down to a blind person. And he wept, walked away. Several months later, after he got over some of his grief, he wrote a little letter. He says, take care of yourself and take care of my eyes.

Wouldn’t it be something to look one day into the face of Jesus Christ and you realized who has done so much for you and how little we respond in a good way to the Lord. Now notice here in the book of Luke in chapter 22, looking verse 54, then took they hymn and led him and brought him into the high priest house. Peter followed a far off. When they had kindled a fire in the mist of the hall and were set down together, Peter sat down among them.

But her certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire and earnestly looked upon him and said, this man was also with him. And he denied him saying, woman, I know him not. And after a little while, another saw him and says, thou art also of them. And Peter says, man, I am not. And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed saying of a truth, this fellow also was with him for he is a Galilean.

And Peter says, man, I know not what thou say it and immediately, O, while he yet spake the cock crew. And the Lord get it, the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. What that look must have done. Did you know one day we’re gonna stand before the Lord and we are going to look into the face of Jesus Christ? I’ve often tried to picture what Christ really looks like, but I just can’t seem to do it. It’s just a mist.

But all I know about the Lord is what the Bible describes about his character. I know what he’s like because the word of God tells me this is Jesus. He is God. And this is what he’s like and this is who he loves. And this is what he promised and all the things that he will do and things he won’t do. So I said, can God do anything? Can God do anything? No, there’s a lot of things God can’t do.

That might sound surprising but see God can’t lie and he can’t send me to hell. And a third thing I know is that he can’t make a rock so big he can’t put it anywhere. I was trapped on that one time. Not since. And then he makes the statement here in verse 61, and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him before the cockroach, thou shalt the naimi thrice and Peter went out and went bitterly.

When he knew he had blown it, he had failed the Lord. I believe Peter loved the Lord but I believe he took his eyes off of him. I believe he got scared but I believe he still loved the Lord. But he didn’t realize how shallow his roots were. You see the roots didn’t go very deep because a big test come along and he wasn’t able to stand. But see, God doesn’t just forget about it and let you alone. I believe there’s some of these teenagers and even adults that you pour a lot in and say I watered and I gave sunshine and I did all these things.

And some Christians will just seem to take off and grow. And then some of them look like they’re never going to grow. And then I see years later, all of a sudden there’s a little sprout. But in all those years, they’re still going through experiences of life, and their roots are still going down. And then one day, you’ll be surprised how God will just bless a person, and that person begins to make wise decision. And then down the road, there could be 10, 15, 20 young guys who’ve come and goes into the ministry that came out of our youth group.

But right now, you wouldn’t give a quarter for them. Because we won’t see things the way God sees things. Think it’s not worth it is it is worth it Because see their God’s children and God can do a better job raising his kids than than I can and God’s word is true now take your Bible looking Ephesians in chapter 3 the book of Ephesians and chapter 3 phasians chapter 3 And notice what he says here. I want you to see this look there in verse 13 verse 13 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man. that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. That ye, and you ought to underline this phrase, being rooted, grounded in love. Now the only way sometimes God can root you and ground you in love is to have a lot of hateful things happen to you.

A lot of ugly things, bitter things, because if God’s going to teach you love, it’s not just going to be by showering you with love. It’s going to be because you learn how to love the Lord in a situation that’s bitter, because things are not right, because people can be ugly. That’s to bring out the sweetness in you. How is God doing? Did God make a mistake with you? Did God send you some bitterness that you didn’t respond to very well?

What have you been facing lately? What do you think God wants you to do? How do you think he wants you to be? You see, outwardly sometimes we can fool everybody, but God knows the inside of an individual, how they’re thinking. And you can carry a lot of bitterness and hatred on the inside because you don’t like the circumstances, because God has given us some things that we don’t understand. But the Lord is working on you because He wants you and has made you something special.

And He wants you to sink your roots deep and rise as high as you can in your honor and glory to the Lord because of what He’s done. But look’-at that verse one more time in verse 17. that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able. See the reason for being rooted and grounded in a certain thing is because there’s something God wants you to do. You may be able to comprehend, to understand with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the depth and the what’s that word height so that it goes deep, that it goes wide, it goes high because of what God is doing and working in your life.

And that’s why he says all these things on in verse 20. Now, on to him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that work within us, there’s power working in your life whether you understand it or not. There’s experiences that you’re going through, not just the good things, Sometimes they so-called bad things because God has a purpose. God is working in our life to develop us into something good.

And who would have ever thought that Peter could have done what Peter did? Who would have ever thought Joseph would have been like Joseph was, but they each had different experiences, bitter times, trash bells. But they were simply experiences that sunk their roots deep, that they were able to flower for the Lord, to grow and to blossom out, and to be what God wants them to be. Now. Look at the last verse I wanted to show you in the book of Colossians in chapter 2.

The book of Colossians chapter 2 just turned to your right. And look in verse 4, verse 4. He says, and this size say, lest any man should be golly with enticing words because we can be enticed. With enticing words to be led astray. So I verse eight talked to us about beware, lest these vain philosophies of man should lure us away from the simplicity that’s in Christ. So he says there in verse five, for though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, join and be holding your order and be, get the steadfastness of your faith in Christ, the steadfastness of your faith.

whether you’re steadfast or not, depends on the root system. You see, the fruit reveals the depth and the strength of the root. And it’s not so much that we have a fruit problem, we have a root problem. You ever hear somebody say, we need to get to the root of the problem. Well, this is the root of the problem. And it says in verse six, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in and how did you receive him by faith?

How do you walk by faith? So look in verse seven, now you ought to underline this part of the verse. Rooted and built up. Before you can go up, you’ve got to go down. You have to have your roots of faith deep in the Word of God and picture the Word of God and all these verses as little as their stone, They’re rocked, they’re bolders, they’re granted. And the word of God doesn’t change, the word of God won’t move.

So if you’re last on to this verse and last on to this verse, you’re solid. Makes you steadfast. And regardless of what comes in life, you’ll be able to stand. You’re steadfast because you got a good root system. Verse seven, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith as you have been taught. Abounding therein with thanksgiving. Now abounding, who with thanksgiving, is the result of a good root system. You ever see a lot of Christians that are never abounding in the things of the Lord and they’re never thankful.

They can’t seem to find a smile, they’re not filled with joy, because the present circumstances are always got them down. It’s like God fell off the throne and he can’t get back up. We’re getting old, but God doesn’t get old. doesn’t fail and he doesn’t fail you. And so regardless of what you go through, there’s a God in heaven that says, look, not everything grows at the same speed because he may be working on one person in a different way that he’s working on someone else.

And some of us go through many of the same problems but just different times in our life. And God, I believe, sends every one of them, allows them to come into our life because stop thing. You picture all the good things that happen to you in your life and you say, boy, am I God was so good to me. You know God’s characteristics doesn’t change. When all those so-called bad things happen, God is still just as good. It’s not God changed.

God was good. God was bad. No. God is good. And so those bad things that we consider bad, is that we don’t understand and see the fruitfulness of it yet. We don’t see the cause, the purpose of it yet. But like the bamboo, nothing for the first year, the second year, the third year, the fourth year. But the fifth year, a little sprout. But in six months, it can grow to be a hundred foot tall. And who knows how everything is going to flourish in the end.

because we can’t see down the road. And you have not a clue what great things that God is doing in your own personal life because right now say you may be sinking some deep roots that your faith is strong because the wind is about to blow. It’s about to come. It could be a tornado coming, but you’ll stand strong because your faith is in the Lord. And God will bless you because of that. Look up here. This hand represents you and me and the wallet represents sin.

We all have sin upon us. Now God says that He loves us. God’s the love of the world. He hates our sin because you see it separates us from Him. And He says the wages of sin is death and since we committed the sin we have to pay for it. We got a debt. And that is eternal separation from God in hell. But God loves us. He wants us to go to heaven. And to go to heaven we have to go to heaven.

be perfect as righteous as God and none of us are perfect, none of us. We’re all sinners. The Bible says that if we want to go to heaven, we got to get rid of it. On our way is by death. This hand represents Jesus Christ, he’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because he loves us. He hates our sin because it separates us from him. Now did God make a mistake and give man a choice.

Look what you get to choose. Christ took all of our sins, paid for them on the cross, came back from the dead and says, now, if you will believe that I did that for you, if you’ll choose to believe it, I choose to give you as a free gift eternal life. So we choose to accept the payment he made, believe that he did it for us. And he chose to give us as a free gift everlasting life. Our sins are paid and we We get to go to heaven on what Christ did for us.

You didn’t earn it, you didn’t work for it. It’s by grace. Are you saved through faith? That not of yourself, it is the gift of God. It’s not of works lest any man should boast. Did God make a mistake? God don’t make mistakes. God is perfect. God is righteous. And I would appreciate it if you can tell me what the title of my sermon is today. I still couldn’t figure it out. Let’s pray, shall we? With every head bow and every eye closed, no one looking around.

If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, why not right now? the quietness of this moment, just say something simple like this. Lord, I know I’m a sinner. I believe Christ died, paid for my sins, and right now I will trust Him to take me to heaven whenever I die. If you’ve never trusted Him, but you will right now, and you’re like for me to pray for you, and I love to, to thank the Lord for a person having such good judgment, good wisdom, to accept that payment He made.

And God said, He’ll never catch you out in every little reason. So is there anyone at all the cold because he says, yes, pray for me. I’ll trust Christ as my Savior and I just slip you in it very quickly and put a right back down the zine one of all. If you have trust that Christ is your Savior, remember your God’s child and as God’s child, God is working in your life. Even sometime when it doesn’t appear that everything is flourishing the way you want, God is using this time for your roots to go deep into His Word.

He may want you to develop a love for Him that’s stronger than the love of the world. He may be working something that needs to be separated in your life. Remember the book of Psalms in chapter 1, the separated and the saturated and the situated. Our Father, we ask your blessings upon each one here and Father for the free gift of eternal life. We thank you for the use of us for your honor and glory and help us to rise as high as you choose to let us go.

To bring honor and glory to you in all the things. Christ’s name we pray. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing 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. Cloak of the National Park friend one day it will happen the trumpet will sound we will be changed caught up to meet the Lord in the air so live today and every day believe in that the Lord is coming soon just keep looking up

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline. Here God’s Word on Bibleline. Everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee, your pastor at Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the Internet. Your regular prayers and m- and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach which is toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calbryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Turn in your Bible to the book of Psalms, the book of Psalms. I was trying to figure out what kind of a title to have on today’s sermon. I thought about the oak tree and the pine. God, that would make a good sermon. But I’m not sure that’s what I want to call it. And so then I thought about the fern and the bamboo. But I’m not sure I want to call it that either. Then I thought about, this is it, the biggest mistake God ever made.

Then I thought, well, God can’t make a mistake. But it, God could make a mistake. What would be the biggest mistake God ever made? You say, making man. No, if God did make a mistake, what would be the biggest mistake that God ever made? I believe that it would be that God gave to man a free will. Do you realize the damage that has come to the world because man was given the ability to choose the right of choice to make up his own mind to say no and look at the damage over the years because man made the wrong choice?

Did God make a mistake in giving you and I a voice, a choice to choose, right or wrong, good or bad? And look what’s happened to everything. And there they were in the Garden of Eden and everything was perfect. Everything was just right. And then God told them one thing not to do, gave them a choice. Told them it would be consequences. Boy, Peter just never gave us a free will. We would have such a wonderful life. We’d all been not on this world.

They’ve been perfect. There have been no sin, no problems. And you know what? God made a mistake. Now God didn’t make a mistake. God knew what man was going to do before he did it. So I guess we’re back here to the book of Psalms in chapter 1, trying to decide what is the title of today’s message. Made before I’m through, you’ll figure it out for me. But notice there in the book of Psalms in chapter 1. Verse 1 says, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor siteth in the seat of the scorn-porn.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law that he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither. And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind drive of the way. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment or centers in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knew of the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” Now, there’s three things in chapter one. One is that there is separated, and then there is the saturated, and then there is the situated. You see, in verse one, It talks a little bit about the separation, things that makes us different. You and I, when we trusted Christ as our Savior, we were separated from the unbelievers because you’re now the leader. You became a child of God, so you’ve been separated from just been a child of the flesh.

So there is a separation, there’s a difference. You’re not the same as you used to be. God doesn’t see you the same way. You’re different now. And yet at the same time in our Christian life, God says, I don’t want you to do some of the things that others do. I don’t want you to walk in the counsel of the young godly.Studies, so I don’t want you to listen to them. I don’t want you to walk the way others walk.

And it then he says, and not to stand in the way of the sinners. I don’t want you to do that because it has to deal with what we do. One is what we hear and then the other hears, nor said it in the seat of the scourmpom. This is what we say. So there’s three things here that gives us some things that says God said, blessed is the man that walketh not, doesn’t act like the world, doesn’t think like the world, doesn’t talk like the world.

Because in God’s eyes you’re not of the world. You were, but you’re no longer. You’re in the world, but God doesn’t want us to be like the world. And then he makes a statement there in verse one, talking about our separation. So we’re separated. And then in verse two, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law that he meditate day and night. Now if the man does this, doesn’t do the other, but he does this, then the man is to be saturated.

So we’re separated, but then we’re saturated. We’re saturated with what the Word of God says. It permeates our mind so that we want to do what God says to do. We want to walk the way He says to walk. And we want to sit in the counsel of the godly and not the walk in the way of the ungodly. It’s causing you to have a separation because the Word of God saturates you. And because of that, He says, you meditate upon the Word of God.

It just says in the book of Joshua in chapter 1. It says that we may have success all the days of our life. Now not success in the eyes of the world, but success in the eyes of God, what God considers it to be. And then we’re situated in a certain spot. See, there’s a lot of places that we choose to put our home, where we choose to live, look, there’s 50 states in the United States, we can choose to live so many places, and there’s types of homes that we have, there’s different types of cars that we have, but the thing that you and I should understand that there’s a better place to be situated.

And that’s to be situated by the river of life. You see, there’s a place that you can be that will sustain you all the days of your life, all the days of my life. There’s a place that we can be. And whenever it doesn’t seem like things are flourishing, like you’d like to say them, but you yourself as an individual are supposed to be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. look there in verse three. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring it forth his fruit in his season.

His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he do it shall prosper. That is a good verse. And this is talking about the God’s child that is saturated with the word of God. And he does the thing that God says to do, and therefore he is situated in the right spot for the blessings of God. And every person that I know of that knows the Lord, loves the Lord wants the blessings of God upon their life. And I want that and I’m sure that you do too.

But he says in verse four, the ungodly are not like this. The ungodly doesn’t love the word of God. They’re not situated by the river of life. Talking about the word of God itself. They don’t plant themselves into the word of God so that their roots go deep. Now, I mentioned to you about the oak tree and everybody knows that an oak tree grows real slow. And they say, well, there’s two ways to get to the top of an oak tree.

One, you can climb it. Two, you can sit on an acorn. Now, which one do you think will take the longest? Well, that acorn tree may never grow because you’d kill it. But if you want to get the top of an acorn tree, just climb the thing. But an acorn tree will take a little bit longer to grow because it’s got deeper roots, it’s a stronger tree, and it produces hard wood that burns good. Now pine tree is not exactly like that.

And a pine tree, well, it grows faster and roots is not as deep. When there’s a storm, they blow over quite easily and they can be a danger. And so that’s why a lot of people don’t like pine trees up close to the house because the wind can knock them over. It’s just that there’s a difference in the root system. Now this one person, he was very sick and tired of life. He didn’t like his job, didn’t like his wife, didn’t like his health.

He didn’t like people. He didn’t like the world, he didn’t like God. And matter of fact, he just hated everything and hated himself. So he just one day just told the boss, he says, I quit my job, told his wife I’m quitting, don’t want to be married to you anymore. He says, and I’m just going to quit my spirituality altogether. want church no more, I just quit everything. And I’m gonna go out into the woods and I and I’m just gonna end my life, I quit.

You ever think like that? That’s I’ve had enough. I don’t want to go to no more. Stop this world, Lord, and let me off. He thought I’m going to have one last talk with God. So he’s got out there in the woods and he says, dear Lord, before I end it all, you have anything final you like to say to me. I mean, can you talk me out of this? Can you give me one good reason why I should not just end it all right now?

Give me a good reason. And the Lord says, have you ever seen the fern and the bamboo? He said, well, yes. He said, well, you see this beautiful force that I have? Yeah. He said, you know that I plant the fern and I plant the seed for the bamboo. He said, even if I plant them both at the same time and I can give them water and I give them sunlight. He said, you know that that fern will just grow up immediately, beautiful green, and it’s great, beautiful.

He says, but that bamboo seed didn’t grow at all. He said, but I didn’t give up on that bamboo. He says, after the first year, the ferns came out more abundantly and covered the floor of the forest and it was beautiful greenery. Look great!” He said, but that bamboo still didn’t grow. The seed didn’t grow at all. He said, and I watered him. He said, and I gave it sunlight. But the bamboo seed didn’t grow. The third year, still the same story, didn’t grow.

The fourth year, He said, but in the fifth year, there’s a little sproun. He says, in comparison to the ferns, he says it was small and insignificant. He says, but you realize in six months that bamboo can be a hundred feet tall. He says, those five years that nothing happened. He says, there was nothing wrong. He says, I created them both. He says, but that bamboo was built in its root system so that when it started to grow, it could grow as tall as it goes.

He says, I didn’t give up on that bamboo. He says, just because it didn’t grow, he says, I don’t give up on you. I don’t give up on people. He says, my word doesn’t go and not come back. It accomplishes what I sent it forth to do. He says, when it comes to anything that I’ve made, he says, I’m the Creator. He says, and it will accomplish that which I intended. So whenever you and I understand that our good days, all we talk about how blessed we are of God.

But those bad days are the days that God is spending time causing us to deepen our roots into the Word of God. So it’s not wasted time. So every one of us may flower at times, but he says, there’s other time, and he says, I’ve got your root system going deep. And I want you to hang on to what the Word of God says. And so your faith grips this rock and your faith grips this rock. And this one goes down 20 feet and grips a whole of this verse.

And this one gets a whole of this verse so that whenever you really start to grow, he says in the wind start coming, he says the root system is what sustains you. He says when you want to be a strong Christian and we talk about this last Sunday night about standing or calling. I was talking about you can’t stand if you don’t have a deep root system. So your roots in the world of God has to go deepampion just like that bamboo.

It might seem like a year go by@@ two years, three years, four years, times of law, nothing exciting but it’s not lost time. It’s because God is spending time giving you experiences. So the good things are we love the blessings of God, but the bad days are not really bad days. But we look at them as bad days. Now those bad days is where we’re gaining experience that will deepen our relationship with the Lord and cause us to be a stronger Christian.

And then whenever your roots go deep, you can grow and be higher and the man says Lord how high can I rise? He said how high can the bamboo tree rise? He says as high as it can. He says that’s what I want for you. I don’t quit on you. I want you to rise and give me glory as high as you can. Just be faithful and God will bless. And I believe that the Lord will. Now remember this because we often think about the bad days.

And it’s amazing that many times in our calendar we can’t remember certain days unless something happened on that day that really helps us to remember. Sometimes good things happen. We can remember that day. Sometimes bad things happen and we remember those days. And we learn a lot of lessons in bad days. Or bad times, I guess you could say. But remember, there was a boy named Joseph. He happened to have had 11 brothers. How would you like to have been Joseph with 11 older brothers and the older brothers hated you?

hated him without a ca- he hadn’t done anything wrong. They just didn’t agree with what he said. They just didn’t like him because well daddy seemed to like him more made of a special coat of many colors. Showed little special favoritism. You said that’s not right. Yeah but look what Joseph had to go through. Did you know that all those years of what happened to Joseph and going down into the end to Egypt and yet at the same time God simply was built in the root system so that the man Joseph could stand strong and do right and God blessed him with wisdom because he did do right.

He served the Lord, he put God first and even when Pharaoh’s wife made advances to him, you know what he did? The Bible says he grabbed his coat and what? He ran. Now he It could have become a wicked man. He said, how can I do such a wicked thing to a God who knows and loves me? How can I do this to Pharaoh? No, he wouldn’t do that because he loved the Lord. But all these years root systems are growing.

And it seems like at times it seemed like it’s a waste of time. How many years passed when he was about 16, 17 years old when this happened to him? Did he ask for that? No. into think, he was the Lord. He used those 11 brothers and made them tribes. And we have the 12 tribes of Israel because Joseph and then Ephraim and Manasseh. And you’re talking about, look what God did with people that were so messed up. You know why God doesn’t use perfect people?

There aren’t any of those. If God didn’t use sinners, say, by grace, wouldn’t be anybody for God to use. So God has figured it all out. I’m so glad he did. Did God make a mistake when He gave you the right to choose? Here’s the Lord. He gave you and made the right of choice. He saved you, gave you eternal life, and then set you free to live. Now you’ve got the freedom to choose to serve the Lord or not to serve the Lord.

How did you do with your choice? You have a choice to read God’s word or not to read God’s word. What kind of a decision did you make? You have a choice to witness for the Lord or not to witness for the Lord. It gave you choices. Set you free. You can choose. Did God make a mistake? Did He trust you too far? Did you let Him down? Did you fail? Do you think it’s worth it? Did God make a mistake when he left you here, said, taking you on home, that God make a mistake.

I don’t want to live my whole life thinking that God blew it on me. God really messed up when he saved me and left me here. I want to serve him and I want to serve him all the days of my life and I pray that that is what you want also. Whenever you think about the 12 disciples, Christ spent three and a half years at least with his disciples taught him walk with them, did all of this. I guess you could say he had a youth group and he spent time with them.

And then whenever it was all over with it the big test came, they all fell. They all fell their final exam because it says in the scriptures that they all forsook him, every one of them did. But Peter, remember him. God bless Peter. He said, Lord, no, everybody forsake you. I won’t. I will never forsake you. And the Lord says before the night’s over, you’re going to deny me three times. Nah, not me. I don’t know what everybody else is going to do, but man, I’m rock solid.

You know, Peter’s roots were not very deep. It didn’t last the night, did it? It didn’t last the night. Because before the night was over with, he’d done messed up. Done messed up. And Can you believe that Jesus and Peter exchanged a glimpse at each other? You know, I often thought that he was Peter and he denied the Lord, but you know, Jesus was out of sight. And he was sitting by the fire and somebody says something that says, hey, you’re one of them.

I don’t know the man. And he cursed, cursed. I don’t know the man. You remember right before this he was willing to die for the man? No, I don’t even know the guy. And it happened three times. Did you know on the last time? And it’s only mentioned in the one gospel that Jesus looked at Peter, looked at him and Peter saw him after he denied him three times and it came into his mind and he wept because he knew what he had promised and And literally he knows that within a few hours he was going to let the Lord down so bad.

You talk about failure. Did God make a mistake with Peter? Did he make a mistake with him? Look how bad he blew it. And yet God still used Peter on the day of Pentecost. What a great honor to use this man. See, God didn’t use a man because he was perfect. God used a man because he realized, I’d done messed up, I accepted, and then make things right with the Lord. And when Jesus came to him, he says, Peter, they says, do you love me?

How many times did he ask Peter, do you love me? Three times. Oh, no, I did it three times. You got to include? How many times did he deny him? Three times? I think there’s something there. Now you know, I want you to take your Bible, look there in the book of Luke in chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. You know, one time there was a girl. She was blind. A girl was blind. She hated herself. She hated the world.

She hated everything, and everybody hated God, because she was blind. She hated everybody and everything except for boyfriend Never boyfriend and he asked her says will you marry me? she says if I can see the world if I could just see the world I’d marry you somebody miraculously donated her some eyes The surgery was a success and she could see totally changed her outlook on life. And her boyfriend asked her, says, now that you can see, will you marry me?

And she looked at him and she was shocked. She didn’t know he was blind. And she says, there’s too much of the world that I want to see. I don’t want to spend my life tied down to a blind person. And he wept, walked away. Several months later, after he got over some of his grief, he wrote a little letter. He says, take care of yourself and take care of my eyes.

Wouldn’t it be something to look one day into the face of Jesus Christ and you realized who has done so much for you and how little we respond in a good way to the Lord. Now notice here in the book of Luke. And chapter 22, looking verse 54, then took they him and led him and brought him into the high priest house. Peter followed afar off. When they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were set down together, Peter sat down among them.

But a certain maid beheld him as he set by the fire and earnestly looked upon him and said this man was also with him. And he denied him saying, woman, I know him not. And after a little while, another saw him and says, thou art also of them. And Peter says, man, I am not. And about the space of one hour after another, confidently affirmed, saying of a truth, this fellow also was with him, for he is a Galilean.

And Peter says, man, I know not what thou sayeth, and immediately, O’wally Yech’s bake, the cock crew, and the Lord get the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. What that look must have done. Did you know one day we’re going to stand before the Lord and we are going to look into the face of Jesus Christ? I’ve often tried to picture what Christ really looks like, but I just can’t seem to do it. It’s just a mist. But all I know about the Lord is what the Bible describes about his character.

I know what he’s like because the Word of God tells me. This is Jesus. He is God. And this is what he’s like, and this is who he loves. And this is what he promised, and all the things that he will do, and things he won’t do. And I said, can God do anything? Can God do anything? No, there’s a lot of things God can’t do. That might sound surprising, but see, God can’t lie. And he can’t send me to hell.

And a third thing I know is that he can’t make a rock so big he can’t put it anywhere. I was trapped on that one time, not since. And then he makes the statement here in verse 61, And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter and Peter, remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cockroach thou shalt deny me thrice, And Peter went out and wet bitterly. Wet bitterly. When he knew he had blown it, he had failed the Lord.

I believe Peter loved the Lord, but I believe he took his eyes off of him. I believe he got scared, but I believe he still loved the Lord. But he didn’t realize how shallow his roots were. You see, the roots didn’t go very deep because a big test come along and he wasn’t able to stand. But you see, God doesn’t just forget about it and let you alone. I believe there’s some of these teenagers and even adults that you pour a lot in and say, I watered and I gave sunshine and I did all these things.

And in some Christians will just seem to take off and grow. And in some of them, they’ll never grow. And then I see years later, all of a sudden there’s a little sprout. But in all those years, they’re still going through experiences of life, and their roots are still going down. And then one day, you’ll be surprised how God was just person, then that person begins to make wise decision. And then down the road, there could be 10, 15, 20 young guys who become those into the ministry that came out of our youth group.

But right now you would kill a quarter court. But we won’t see things the way God sees things. I think it’s not worth it. It is worth it. Because he, their God’s children. And God can do a better job raising his kids than I can. And God’s word is true. 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. 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. 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our home page. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftempa.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and 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 BiblelineRoaming, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Biblelineebted with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Rodham Community Church in Tampa. Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bible 9 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.

Remember this when it comes to what the Word of God said, God says, because God says, I changed nothing. I’m saying yesterday, today and forever. And whatever we do, we basically fund the immutability of God. Impossible to change. God is not a man. God is God. So are we little peons down here, able to get God to change his mind about stuff? Remember this, circumstances change. you change. God doesn’t change. Prayer is getting you in the right place where God can do for you what He always wanted to do for you.

God has always wanted to bless Israel and He’s always wanted them to be a light to the world that hasn’t changed. God doesn’t change. And so there’s circumstances with people where we either obey, and if we do, God is bound by His word to keep His covenant that He has to do certain such. And if we disobey as the nation of Israel did, then God was bound by His word that He had to chase in Israel. See, God didn’t change.

What happened was the people changed. Circumstances change. Now in your life and in my life it is you and I that are growing. You and I are the one that are learning things by which we correct decisions. God doesn’t have to correct anything. He doesn’t have to repent, change his mind. The Bible talks about when he repented, he grieved because of what man was doing. The Bible tells us in the book of Zachariah in chapter 8 that God says, I fought to do this unto you, but when you correct the problem, I didn’t do the evil that I was going to do.

You said, within God changed his mind. God was only being consistent with his character because of their change. He didn’t have to do this. But if they hadn’t corrected the problem, God would have done this. That’s why when you read even in the book of Romans in chapter 9 about the choosing of vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy. Can God the potter form or shape the vessel the way God wants? Of course He can. Is it God free to use a vessel of rebellion to demonstrate His wrath and a vessel that obeys God and yields to God that God can use them to show His blessings upon.

When I understood this years ago, I knew, I knew that if I served God, I have got God bound by His Word, He must bless me. His choice was made before I was ever born, But I know if this book is true and if I obey His word and walk in His way, do His will. God is bound by His word. He can’t choose not to bless me. He must bless me. Remember a guy named Jacob who wrestled with the Lord all night long because he wanted one thing.

He wanted God’s blessings. He said, you mean God wouldn’t have bla- no, it was Jacob getting right where God could. Did you know it’s kind of like this? Here’s this great big old hole in the sky. And here you are off over there in La La Land. And whenever you get right and God will move in your life and block you here and block you there and lead you to the right. and he’s trying to get you one place.

Why, if he can just get you right here, then he is gonna unload his blessings upon you. And if not, and you’re rebellion, then you don’t get it. It’s not that God changed. It’s that God got you in me where he wants us. And if you will do what’s right, God must hear your prayer and God must answer your prayer. And when you understand that, That will give you more power in your prayer and not until. That’s why he says down here something very important.

Look there in the book of Malachi in chapter three. Even from the days of your fathers, you are gone astray from mine ordinances and have not kept them. See the purpose of this whole thing of the whole letter is for them to return unto me. Why? Because God still loves them. Why? Because God still wants to bless. Return unto me and I will return unto you, sayeth the Lord of… His returning is based upon whose returning? There’s… That’s upon theirs.

If you will do what God says to do, then God is obligated. And he can’t make up his mind, then he’s already made up his mind. Well, he’s already wrote it in his word. God cannot lie. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever. And get what else he says here. Return unto me and I will return unto you, sayeth the Lord of hosts, but ye say, wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God, yet ye have robbed me.

But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee in tithes and offerings? You see, their tithes and their offerings were supposed to be given to the tribe of Levi. And then tribe of Levi would have what they needed to live off of. All right. When the priest became evil and didn’t do what they wanted or should have, then God says, you have wearied me. And they said they were sick of God. They didn’t want anything to do with really God himself.

They had the rituals down. They were doing the things, but their heart was far from them. When Christ came, he said the same things to them. And he says, because you have despised me, I’m going to have the people will despise you. So here’s God, nears the priest, and here’s the people. He said, because you despise me, I’ll have the people despise you. And so the people lost respect for their leaders, and they refused to bring them what they were supposed to have.

So that means that now in order for them to live they began to take bribes and all kind of things and when Christ came He told them about this and confronted them with it because of You know they were supposed to be taking care of their parents and they weren’t taking care of their parents and they were giving money to the temple and They were taking bribes and all that wickedness But look what he says in verse 9. He says you’re cursed with a what a curse for you have robbed me even this whole nation.

So what was happening to them is a result of what they were doing. God didn’t change. See, God had already laid it down in the book of Deuteronomy saying that I lay before you life and death. And if you will do what I say do, it’ll be life, blessings. But if you don’t, then I’m gonna take it all the way from you. You obey me, you’re in the land. You disobey, I’m taking you out of the land. See, the principles of God doesn’t change.

And in your own personal life, if you will understand, I know that if I rebel against God, if I rebel against God, which will be my choice, God won’t make me do it. But if I rebel against the Lord, and I go my own way, do whatever I want to do with my life, my life, I can fight for all I want to. Then I know that my heavenly Father, based upon his word, he’s gonna beat the Torah out of me or take me home before my time.

Is that the book? That’s the book. And I know that I believe that. So I decided I’m going to serve the Lord. So for 50 years, that’s what I’ve been doing. And I think I just going to keep on doing that. I kind of like the benefits. I like the retirement plan. So you got a retirement plan, yeah, boy. You say, I want to see your portfolio. Portfolio. I just lay up treasure in heaven. That’s where you’re going to have it.

Anyway, look what he says in verse 9. You’re cursed with the curse for you have robbed me even this whole nation. Now get verse 10. He says, bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse. And the reason for that was because that’s what God told the other tribes to do so that the other tribe, the Levite, would have food to eat. But when they didn’t take care of their needs, because God didn’t take care of theirs, Everything falls apart.

And so God says, why don’t you try me? Try me. Prove me wrong. So that’s why He says there in verse 10, bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house. In other words, God says, you put me first. Put me first. Take care of what God says first. And then all these other things, God says, will be added unto you. There’s principles laid down in here. Now some people they cringe at the word tied because it means a tent.

Whatever it was, a tent goes to the Lord. And that was under the Jewish law. No doubt about it. But Abraham paid ties in Levi or Levi paid ties in Abraham. And this was to Melchizedek. This was before the law, 430 years before the law was ever given. So, Titan was before the law. Titan was under the law. And after that, it doesn’t say that Titan has been done away with, because it’s a principle in giving. No, I don’t worry about whether or not, do you give a tent?

Do you give a tent? Do you give a tent? I think it’s a minimum. If they gave that much under the law, I think I ought to do more in the grace. But it’s a good system on learning how to give, how to determine. And I believe that if I put God first And by giving of my funds or my money to the Lord’s work, I believe that it’s up now to God to see how He wants to bless my life.

But I have removed an obstacle that says, God’s like I can’t because you didn’t do this. I would rather go ahead and do it because I don’t want it there to be any reason that God can use not to bless me. You say, you’re greedy, you got it. I want every blessing in this life. I can get and when I get to heaven, I don’t even know what a reward is going to be, but if God’s giving them, I’m wanting them, whatever it is.

Whatever he’s got for places of ruling in the kingdom with us, I don’t care if I don’t get anything now, but when I get there, I’ll probably wish I had of. And God says that we are reward motivated people. Everybody wants something. I didn’t ask to be made this way. made us this way. And God’s the one that tells us about this beautiful pace called heaven so that we would desire to go there. He’s the one that told us about hell so that we wouldn’t want to go there.

So in life we get a little bit of heaven and we get a little hell on earth so that you could have joy and you can experience pain so that you can make a wise choice on what you want forever. Don’t it make sense God is so smart and how do you figure out all of this? And so says in verse 10, bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house and prove, get that, prove me now.

Not 20 years from now, I don’t even prove me now. In other words, things can change and God’s telling them, look, it can change, not because God changes, but you need to change. You know whenever I have people come to church, I can’t make people come. I probably make them go, but I can’t make them come. But whenever you come to church, do you know why I like teaching the Bible? Because I expect the Word of God to change you.

And if it doesn’t change you, I will lose confidence in the book, but I shouldn’t, but I do. I think, have I labor in vain? I expect people to grow And to grow it means something changed. There is a before and there is an after. But with God, there’s no before and there’s no after God is the eternal I am. He’s the same yesterday, today, forever. Nothing changes with God. But He has used time to let us learn some things about an infinite God that never changes, that gives His Word, He cannot lie.

has principles that he’s laid down in the Word of God. And if you could find what are all the rules? You know, I thought about that years ago. I want to go through the Bible and find the rules by which God plays by. I think you’ll make a fantastic book. What will God do and what will God not do and why? Wouldn’t it be a good book? You ought to write that book. I’ll read it. Because God is such a good God.

But I don’t believe people really understand God. And like I said before, is God somebody that you want to use? Or are you someone that God will use? and it depends upon what you do. So he says here, and prove me now, here with saith the Lord of host, get this, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, it means the rain is going to come. And when the rain comes, the crops are going to be watered, and the fruit’s going to come, and the cows and all the sheep and so forth.

They’re going to multiply. And he says, in verse 11, God says, I will rebuke the devour for your sakes, and ye shall not destroy the fruits of your ground. Neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field. Sayeth the Lord of Hope. In other words, you put me first, try me. Now that to me is like God’s challenging people. Prove me. Now you know there’s a verse in the Bible in the book of Romans in chapter 15.

It says, Old Testament Scriptures were written a four time for our learning that we might understand God, that we may know why God does what he does, to understand the ways of God. God. So God says there is a way that seems right unto a man. But do you know the ways of God? Why God does what He does? To find out what God says and that He cannot life. And as God looks upon the people of the earth, He’s looking for one ingredient in every individual.

He’s looking for one thing, faith. He’s looking for faith. Someone that believes in. Some day, somewhere, somehow, and sometime, some young kid is going to pick up this book and read it and believe it, and God’s going to raise them up and can shake the world. God’s just looking for an individual that he can make himself strong on his behalf. So who might that be? You’ve sat there and think, I want to be that individual. If you can’t shake the world, wouldn’t you like to shake the man that shakes the world?

To God to use you, we limit ourselves by our own limited thinking. So God says, I will rebuke the devour for your sake, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground. Do you realize that you can work and God because you’re not right with him? God can devour your money. The Bible talks by, I think it’s in the book of Haggiadah, and he says, you put money into bags that has holes in it. You put money into bags that has holes in them.

That means that you may work and you labor to make something and you lose it. That’s why he says lay up treasure where? Then heaven, why? So you can’t lose it. Lay up treasure in heaven and you can’t lose that. Boy, that’s good stuff. He says in verse 13, your words have been stout against me, sayeth the Lord. Yet you say, what have we spoken so much against thee? What did we say against you? He says this, ye have said it is vain to serve God.

No, it doesn’t pay to serve God. Do you get weary and well doing? Because you expect to get paid here. You see, with the nation of Israel, they were promised the land and the prosperity here in this life. Would you and I, if not the blessings that God promised to Israel? God says that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. In other words, we’re not working for it down here as a nation because as a people, the church is not that nation, why which we set up and we want God to bless the nation.

We want God to bless this nation where we live. But what he’s talking about is a little different. You see, God says, you work here, and I’m going to reward you there. Nation of Israel, you obey me here, and I’ll bless you here. I’ll put a hedge about you. The enemy can’t get to you. I will not take any of the diseases of the Egyptians and put them upon you, and I’ll bless your land. I’ll bless you with water.

I’ll bless you with fruit. I’ll bless you with them. All that. And so they blew it. How are we doing? How are we doing? Now it’s our turn. And God’s given us 2,000 years to get the job done. Going all over on Priest the Gospel. And it says teaching all nations. Baptizing. Disciples. We’re supposed to do that. So after 2,000 years we have reached the world reached the world, haven’t we? We won the world of Christ. All the nations of the earth want to honor the Lord.

We could pat ourselves in the back, but we have done a great job, haven’t we? No, we haven’t. Look at the world. Look at the United States. Is it greater, more Christianized, I should say? I don’t think so. They said, it is in vain to serve God and get what else is it? What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Host. Now we call the proud happy, yea, they that work wickedness or setup.

Yea, they, that temp God, or even delivered, they seem like all the evil triumphs. But the one part there that says that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts, now we call the proud, happy, yea, they that someth that work wickedly are set up. Do you see wicked people getting in place of leadership and they’re making the rules by which us believers are going to have to live by. That’s because the people are getting away from the Lord.

So this is why I know if the Word of God is true, then God, there has to either be a revival in America or God has to judge America. And I believe that the judgment is already on its way. Look up here. This isn’t representing you and me. This wallet represents sin. We all have sin upon us. God loves us, but He hates our sin. And the Bible says for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from the Lord in hell.

But God loves us. That has not changed. How God thinks and feels about sin, it hasn’t changed. And God says to go to heaven, you have to be perfect, as righteous as God. what? It ain’t changed. God says that no man can save himself by his works. That hasn’t changed. And God says that he sent his son Jesus Christ into the world because he loves us. He took our sins, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead.

And God said if we would believe that he did He would put this payment to our account and we get to go to heaven on what Christ did for us. That’s the best news in the world. And by the way, that hasn’t changed either. The same gospel to the first man to the last man, never be born. It’s all the same. It’s only thing any man has ever done or ever can do is simply accept Christ as their savior.

And when you trust Christ as your savior, God says He gives you as a free gift, He gives you as a free gift everlasting life. And He says, these things have I written unto you, and I believe that you may know that you have eternal life. So if God said it, and I believe it, can I know that I have eternal life? If God can’t lie, and He says, I’ll never cast you out. Never. He said, I’ll never lose you.

No man can take you out of my Father’s hand. But if that’s true and God can’t lie, how can I go to hell in the future? Impossible. Now if I can believe what God says, then I have no problem. If I can’t believe he means what he says, then I got a problem. So as you study the Word of God, it’s to give you an eye comfort and boldness. See I know that God doesn’t change. I know that God wants to get me.

Where he can bless me and anybody else. God will bless them. But see God has a purpose and his purpose in what he wants, he may know that the purpose of this trial or testing is to develop your character. See God wants the best for every individual and he knows what’s best. That’s why he’s working in every person’s life to give you individualized attention. You want God to be personally involved in your life? He is. you just didn’t know it.

And He will do things to bring you closer to Him. And God wants to bless you because He’s God. God loves you. All He wants you to do is get to where He can. And He says, if you return to me, He says, if you do what I say to you, and it’s a type to teach by, but you have no idea the windows of heaven that God can open and do for you more than you ever dreamed in your life.

Isn’t there a verse in the New Testament book of Ephesians in chapter three where it says and God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you’re able to ask or think? I think that’s in the Bible. I think it’s in there. I think there’s another verse in there that says cast all of your cares upon him for he cares for most of you. He cares for you. Every individual. You see, there is not a problem that you have greater than he can solve.

Do you understand it? Do you believe that? See, God wants one thing from you, your confidence, your trust. He wants your respect and not to give him that respect. God says that’s an abomination to him. Let’s pray, shall we? With every head bowed and every act closed and no one looking around if you’re here tonight and you’re never trusted Christ as your Savior. Why not trust Him right now? You see, God doesn’t change. He loves you. It doesn’t matter how many bad things you’ve done.

He still loves you. And when he died on that cross and paid for the sins of the world, yours was included. And if you will believe he did it for you, God said he would save you and give you the free gift of eternal life. Wouldn’t you like to know that you’re going to heaven? Take God at His word, He doesn’t lie. He said if you trust Him right now, He would save you right now. Give you eternal life.

And you can know that you’re going to heaven because He said, I’ll never cast you out and I’m never losing you. That’s because God loves you that much. If you have already trusted Christ as your Savior, as you go through life, there’s an awful lot of things that God wants to teach you. One of those things is that he’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. He doesn’t change. We are the one to change. And when God answers our prayers, it’s because If we have said or done, that was he required and he will do it.

And as you look at the question of the prayer, it’s to be within the boundaries of the will of God, his purpose. Our Father, we thank you so much for all you’ve done for us. We thank you for this time together to study your blessed one, Christ name we pray. Amen. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bible line and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 3,100, 576, 3771.

That’s 1,800, 576, 3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again, or would like to hear more information about We’d 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.

By 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. Hot up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, We believe in that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the Internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800uggest. 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 to take your Bible and turn to the book of Malachi, the book of Malachi. And a few things I want to dwell on just three things. One is about the messenger that is to come. And the second thing is about God who says that he never changes. And third, where he says, you have robbed me. Who in the world in the right mind would walk up to God with a gun and say, stick them up, this is a hold up.

Say, I’m going to rob God. Now who in the right mind would try to rob God? Now I’ve had people breaking into my house, and I’ve had people breaking into our church, and still all our sound system. But who in the world could rob God? And yet people rob God. So we’re gonna take a look at that, but first of all, look there in Malachi chapter two and verse 17, chapter two verse 17.

He said, you have wearied the Lord with your words. Now the people said that they were wearied because of what God has done. So the people were wearied with God and God was wearied with them. When you read the book of Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 14 where he talks about the nation of Israel, he says from the top of your head to the bottom of your foot, he says you’re sick. You have wearied me. He’s like you’re rotten to the core.

Now sometimes we say things like that about certain people. But God said this to his people Israel. And then he says, come on to me and let’s reason together. Let’s reason together, say, after Lord. But he says, we’re in have we wearied him. When ye say, everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighted in him. Oh, where is the God of judgment? In other words, it looks like, and maybe you’ve done this.

Have you ever seen wicked people do wicked things, and it seemed like they get blessed, and you do righteous things, and you get the tar beat out of you? Like he’s always whooping you. And like David says, he says, it’s like the Lord has chastened me over and over and over again. Well, here he says, where in have we wear you. And where is the God of judgment? Because we want to know and we believe that God ought to be fair.

But even God isn’t fair. People are not fair. Life is not fair. But in the midst of this judgment and about us setting in judgment on God, because remember as you read through the book of Malachi, you see that question asked over and over again, we’re in hostile love does. We’re in have we polluted die altar. I mean show us where we’ve been wrong because in their minds they don’t think it’s that bad. Most people don’t believe that what they do is that bad until they see what God says.

Now if we compare ourselves with the Lord we see how far short we have come. So chapter 3 he says, somebody you have been waiting on. There’s somebody that’s written in the covenant that is coming and he is coming. Here is Joseph, verse 1, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple. 400 years later he shows up. And then, if you follow a little bit down lower when he talks about when he comes, he’s gonna be in judgment.

That’s been another 2,000 years. Does he say suddenly come to his temple? Now that doesn’t mean like, you know, a long period of time. He’s not talking about the length of time. He’s all of a sudden, boom! He shows up. So he came right on schedule. Now, I want you to hold your place right here, but just look there in the Book of Isaiah chapter 40, look in Isaiah chapter 40. And you read this in the New Testament also, especially in the Gospel of John, the Book of Matthew, chapter 3 of Matthew where it talks about John the Baptist shows up on the scene and he’s a preaching.

And here in the Book of Isaiah and chapter 40, look there in verse 1, comfort ye, comfort ye my people saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry under her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” In verse 3, and then all of a clear sky just seemed like it’s another subject. The voice of him that cryeth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord.

There’s L O O.R.D. all camps means Jehovah. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough way made plain.” You may have a little trouble trying to understand some of that, but let me just see if I can just make a comment about it. There’s a lot of mountains in Israel. There’s a lot of mountains around the world.

But you know all of those high peaks, those great big mountains, God said, I have placed my temple in my holy heel of Zion. Though there’s mountains higher, there was none as great as this holy heel. And it was like those are exalted, and this one is humble, and God’s chosen a humble place. But Israel, one day, it will be the greatest nation. And so today it’s a humble nation. It’s a little bitty nation. But God’s gonna use this nation to be a blessing to the whole world.

Now you’ll see that if you’re looking in the book of Malachi, just we’re not leaving here yet. Malachi and you’re looking chapter three, look there in verse 12, where it says, and all nations shall call you blessed. For ye shall be a delight some land, Seth, the Lord of hosts. Right now nothing was going right for Israel. The temple wasn’t glorious like the previous one was. The sacrifices God was not satisfied with. He was upset with the priests, the leaders of the people, and he was upset with the people.

And seemed like nobody was pleasing God. And so God was telling them, he says, look, all this can change. And God wanted to show them how much he loves him. But see, God can’t change. He can’t bless this obedience. So here in Isaiah in chapter 40, when he talks about making things right. Like here comes somebody, prepare to meet the Lord. It’s like when you’re gonna have company, you wanna clean up the house and make it look presentable. You don’t want there to be anything that would cause that person to be offended in any way.

It’s people get your lives right. When you read in the book of Luke and talking about John the Baptist, it’s talking about that get things right. And John the Baptist was supposed to take and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. That means then daddy begins to watch what he does, what he says, how he lives, how he thinks, everything. But you see, we don’t have that today. We need the fathers to turn their hearts to the children.

Because see, that’s what changes lives. That’s what changes homes. Trying to set the right example for the kids because you love them. Otherwise parents go astray when they lose the love for their children. But anyway, he says, this is gonna happen. In verse five he says, And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. And all flesh shall see it altogether for the mouth of the Lord had spoken. So Jesus Christ is going to come and come suddenly to the temple.

Look what he says in verse six. The voice said cry and he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grasped. All the goodness of thereof is as the flower of the field. And then down to the last part of verse eight And the word of our God shall stand forever. And in verse nine, the good tidings are the good news. So John the Baptist came on the scene and he preached and was warning the people, prepare you the way of the Lord.

He’s coming and he says, I baptize you in water, but he that cometh after me shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and that was coming next. So go back here to the book of Malachi now. And when the Lord comes to the earth, even though there’s a little of a gap in here, it says in the last part of verse 2, he is like a refiner’s fire and light full of soap. He shall sit as a refiner and purify of silver.

He shall purify the sons of Levi, because remember the tribe of Levi is the priest. And they’re wicked right now, but he’s coming and he’s going to make things right. This is my righteous servant, the righteous branch. And he says, in verse four, then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in the days of old, as in the former years. So this is what’s going to take place. And it’s looking on down the road.

It ain’t happened yet, but it’s going to. Now he did come, but not everything was fulfilled at that time. Some things are gonna be fulfilled later. Now look up there in verse six. To understand, I am the Lord, L-O-R-D caps. I am Jehovah, I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed because God doesn’t change. God has mercy, God has grace. But just like when you play any kind of sports, there’s always rules that you have to play by.

And sometimes you break the road and you get disqualified or you get kicked out of the game, whatever. But there’s rules that you play by. Believe it or not, in the Bible, there are rules that the devil has to play by. He has to go by certain rules. He has limitations put on him. There’s something he can do. There’s something he can’t do. And so when you understand that, you know that he is limited. He can’t do anything he wants to do.

A God can block him here and block him there. He can put a fence around you and protect you and all kinds of things that can happen. But you need to understand there’s also rules by which God has limited himself. In other words, God has his own set of rules. Love has rules. If man loves his wife, it becomes a set of rules upon him. There’s things he will not do. There’s things he will do because of love. Same thing with a woman.

So it has its own set of rules. There’s boundaries. Now with the Lord he says, I change not. Now isn’t it true in scripture that the Bible says in God repented? God repented. Now it seems like a contradiction as though God changed his mind. We say always the you know repent means to change your mind and to reconsider to think differently. So there’s a problem with that. But I do want you to look at a few verses with me.

Now hold your place right here in Malachi and turn all the way over there to the book of Numbers. Numbers in chapter 23. Look there in verse 19. Verse 19 because the more you understand about the ways of God it will help you in your Christian life. It will give you confidence, give you boldness. See in verse 19, God is not a man. Do you understand that? Now Jesus became a man, but God the Father is not a man.

God is not a man. Now He was a perfect God man when He came into the world and born into the world. Now, but we’re not talking about Him. God is not a man. Get this. That He should, what? Lie. So is He saying that all men are liars? I’m afraid so. All men are liars. But what else? She said, neither the son of man that he should repent or change his mind. Have he said and shall he not do it?

Or have he spoken and shall he not make it good? Since God is God and God cannot lie. God can’t do anything wrong. God has never wronged any person. That means he He can’t wrong you. So that means you can trust Him. If He says something and He makes a promise, does He have to keep His Word? I would think so. Because it’s part of His character. See God’s mind, His will, His character, that can never change. It can’t change because of what the Word of God tells us.

So there’s a few other Scriptures that I wanted you to take a quick look at. Look at James chapter 1. Go to James chapter 1. Now don’t lose your place there in the book of Malachi now. But James in chapter 1, and look there in verse 17. Now the Bible tells us that when a man is tempted, He cannot say, I am tempted of God because God does not tempt a man to sin. God doesn’t dangle bait out there in front of you and try to get you to sin.

Now the devil will, but the Lord will. And you are enticed whenever your sinful nature that you have, your lust desires that which it shouldn’t. So you have an old sinful nature. So you can’t blame everything on the devil because you have one of your own. You can take the devil and the devil and the devil. put him in the bottom of his pit for a thousand years and people still want to do what’s wrong. That’s going to take place one day.

So you look there in verse 16 where he said, do not err my beloved brethren, every good gift, every perfect gift is from above. And comeeth down from the Father of lights, with whom is no veribleness, neither shadow up turning. It means that God doesn’t change. And that’s a good thing to know. But why you’re right here so close, look there in the book of Hebrews in chapter 13, Hebrews chapter 13. Look there in verse 8, you ought to underline this verse.

And look what it says even about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. So if this is true, how can God repent or change his mind? Or when I pray to God, can I change God’s mind? Isn’t that what prayer is? In other words, I’m not going to get something unless I pray. So when I pray, I change God’s mind. Well, that’s interesting. Have you really thought much about that? Is there a contradiction in the Bible?

In other words, Lord can I have that pink Cadillac? No, you cannot. And we think God is like a parent. So we just stay at him and by our persistent in asking and wearing him down, we finally got God to change his mind and give me that pink Cadillac or that million dollars. Wouldn’t that be great? So all we gotta do is just keep begging and weary him and we’ll get it. Because there’s an illustration in the Bible about something like that.

but he talks about an unjust judge or something, you know. Well, we’re not gonna look at that tonight. But I do want you to know that he says, blessed is the Lord. He does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. So if he doesn’t change, can he change his mind? Well, that’s an interesting thing to know. So it’s an interesting subject. So we’re right here in Hebrews. Look in Hebrews chapter 6. Look in verse 17. There’s two things about the Lord that says that he can swear by no greater so that there’s nobody greater than God.

And then it was impossible for God to lie. So that ought to be pretty sure. So if nobody can override God because there’s nobody greater than God. And because there’s no way of making God change him, can God save you today? and then he changes his mind tomorrow. See, God saved Al, but after 10 years, God changed his mind and decided, I don’t think so. Wouldn’t that be terrible? Because if they can change his mind on any one person, he could change his mind on all of us.

But see, what I know about God is that God can’t change his mind. And the Bible tells us in the book of Romans in chapter 11 that the callings and the gifts of God are without repentance. It means it’s without a change of mind. God can’t change his mind. So how does all this prayer supposed to make a difference? That’s an interesting question. Wish we had a good answer. Looking verse 18, that by two immutable things in which there’s nobody greater and he can’t lie, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us so that we can have sure in our anchor, look in verse 9, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.

Why is our anchor secure because there’s nobody greater than God and God cannot lie and God gave his word? So you and I are supposed to rest in that, and that’s what It gives us our confidence. So whenever we say, I know I have eternal life. I know I’m going to heaven when I die. What is it based upon the Word of God? God said so. And God can’t change it. Boy, I like that. You ought to like that too.

But all of this reveals something that I want you to see looking for 6 in Malachi. For I am the Lord, I change not therefore ye sons of Jacob or not concerned why because God had made a promise. He had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that they were going to be the foundation of a kingdom upon the earth that will last forever and that they’re going to have a king over them and a kingdom that will never cease. God gave His Word.

So God can’t let the nation of Israel, the people, He can’t never let them be totally annihilated. Oh, they’ve come close over the centuries, but they’re still going. There’s some people living in our time that would love to just annihilate all of them, but they still keep going. But now God never changes his mind, his will, or his nature. Change involves before and after. Change involves before and after. So here’s God. God is the eternal person I am. Can you have a before and then God changes it?

And then there’s after. God did this or before God did this, but God had to change something. Is it possible if God cannot change? Interesting thing to think about. The second thing to look at on this is if God changes, is it because God made a mistake? Has he now made a mistake? Because if something changes. Does it change for the better or for the worse? Anything that changes in our understanding is it changes for better or changes for worse.

Isn’t that what we do when we get two people to be joined together in matrimony? We always tell them because even if things change, you’re supposed to keep your vow for better or or for worse, richer or poor, in sickness and in health. Those are changes, aren’t they? All those are changes. But if you give your word, regardless of what changes, better, worse, you keep this. Because see, our vows are supposed to be similar to what God, you give your word.

That’s why you’re supposed to be scared to death, they give your word. Because God hears our vows. and it’s important. So did God do this and then God did it better and God is perfect? Then he can’t change. It can’t get better. It can’t get worse because God is God. God, whatever God does, it’s always perfect. God can’t do any wrong. He can’t do any less than perfection in anything. He can’t change his mind because if he changed mind is because he finally learned something that he didn’t know and he had to make a correction.

Did you tell God something? And God said, I never follow that. And now he changed his mind. For example, remember a guy named Hezekiah? God was going to take his life. So he says, Prepare to meet my God. And as a cayus said, no, wait, wait a minute, not so fast. Lord, if I’m dead, I can’t do anything for you. I can’t praise you from the grave. I mean, let me live. Let me smir. I don’t want to die.

And evidently he had some boils and he was going to die. So God gave him 15 years. So did that prayer change God? Did he change God’s mind? It would appear that God changed his mind. And if he changed his mind, why? Because he prayed and changed God. Oh, I guess interesting. Remember this, when he comes to what the Word of God says, because God says, I changed not. I’m the same yesterday, today and forever. And whatever we do, we base it upon the immutability of God.

Impossible to change. God is not a man. God is God. So are we little peons down here able to get God to change his mind about stuff? Remember this, circumstances change. You change. God doesn’t change. Prayer is getting you in the right place where God can do for you what He always wanted to do for you. God has always wanted to bless Israel, and He’s always wanted them to be a light to the world that hasn’t changed. God doesn’t change.

And so there’s circumstances with people where we either obey. And if we do, God is bound by His Word to keep His covenant that He has to do certain stuff. And if we disobey as the nation of Israel did, then God was bound by His Word that He had to chasten Israel. See, God didn’t change. What happened was the people changed. Circumstances change. Now, in your life and in my life, it is you and I that are growing. You and I are the one that are learning things by which we correct decisions.

God doesn’t have to correct anything. He doesn’t have to repent, change his mind. The Bible talks about when he repented, he grieved because of what man was doing. The Bible tells us in the book of Zechariah in chapter 8 that God says, I fought to do this unto you, but when you correct the problem, I didn’t do the evil that I was going to do. You said, well, then God changed his mind. God was only being consistent with his character because of their change.

He didn’t have to do this. But if they hadn’t corrected the problem, God would have done this. That’s why when you read even in the book of Romans in chapter 9 about the choosing of vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy. Can God, the potter, form or shape the vessel the way God wants? Of course he can. Is it God free to use a vessel of rebellion to demonstrate his wrath and a vessel that obeys God and yields to God.

God can use them to show his blessing to him. When I understood this years ago, I knew, I knew that if I serve God, I have got God bound by his word, he must bless me. He, His choice was made before I was ever born. But I know if this book is true and if I obey His Word and walk in His way, do His will, God is bound by His Word, He can’t choose not to bless me, He must bless me.

Remember a guy named Jacob who wrestled with the Lord all night long because he wanted one thing, he wanted God’s blessings. He said, you mean God wouldn’t have bla- no it was Jacob getting right where God could. Did you know it’s kind of like this? Here’s this great big old hole in the sky. And here you are off over there in La La Land. And whenever you get right and God will move in your life and block you here and block you there and lead you and He’s trying to get you one place.

If he can just get you right here, then he is going to unload his lessons upon you. And if not, and you’re rebellion, then you don’t get it. It’s not that God changed. It’s that God got you in me where he wants us. And if you will do what’s right, God must hear your prayer and God must answer your prayer. And when you understand that, that will give you more power in your prayer and not until. He is the king of the Bible.

You have 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 these 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 homepage.

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

So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon. 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.

I want to show you what I believe the difference is and what we call grace, pure grace, cheap grace. I guess you could say that if there’s cheap grace, there’s expensive grace. But pure grace can either be cheap nor expensive. Grace is grace. It cannot be bought. Here in Titus in chapter two, I want you to look there in verse 11. In verse 11, it says, for the grace of God, that bring of salvation, have appeared to all men.

Now we’re talking about the salvation that we can have in Christ because of the message of grace. The grace of God brings salvation. The verse right before this, it talks about in verse 10, not polluting, but showing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. See it’s one thing to trust Christ as Savior. There are other things that grace wants to teach us that aborns the doctrine of God. You and I are representatives in this world for Christ.

We are His ambassadors. So He says here in verse 12, teaching us that denying ungodliness and woolly lusts we should live soberly, and godly in this present world. So there’s a reason why God has left you and I in this present, evil, wicked, ungodly world. So that we could live righteous, godly, either way God wants us to be. And so the teachings of the Bible are various doctrinal truths doctrinal truths that helps you and I to adorn the teachings about God.

People will never, most of them, read the Bible. Many will never go to church. But you and I being left in the world is what they see. So we’re supposed to let the world know that we believe in Christ. We’ve trusted Him as our Savior. God is our Father and Because we’re God’s children We are the closest thing they’re ever going to see of God Isn’t that enough to scare you to death? Wouldn’t it be a shame that people reject the teachings of God because of our life?

So he says there’s a main thing that will help us the foundational truths and I’ve said for a long time that that the growth that you have as a Christian, the fruition on the tree, is got to have a good foundation. We have to have a good trunk. Our roots must go deep into the Word of God. When it makes a statement in the book of Corinthians about you and I building upon the foundation, well the foundation is not the wood, the hay, and the stubble.

The foundation was not the gold silver precious stones, the foundation is Christ. The foundation that you and I have is the security of the believer. You and I be incompetent of this very thing, having a sure foundation that I’ll hope is in Christ and then we can build. There’s many people trying to build their life, but they’re trying to build it according to the teachings of the Bible, but the foundation is mixed with sand. If this mix would sand, they’re never going to be really strong.

The wind is going to blow them and toss them to and fro, and they’re not going to be a strong Christian because the winds of adversity will root them out. I believe it is so important that our foundation vision. Be secure. And this is why your Christian life can never be stronger than the foundation that you come from. And this is why you have to have a strong teaching on the Gospel of Grace. Look now in chapter 3, chapter 3.

Look in verse 1. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to obey every good work. So you study the word so we’ll know how to live in this life and be prepared to do all the good things that God wants us to do in this life. Behind all of that is a driving force. And you may remember that I mentioned to you about being gospel driven. Well, it’s not just a figment of my imagination.

I believe that is the key. And as you read these scriptures that many deep Bible teachers spend hours breaking down every Greek word so they can really give you all the kernels of truth out of all of it. And by the time they get through it still will say no more than what the King James already has. But he makes a statement in verse two. These are things now that the grace of God is supposed to teach us in this life.

He says to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, gentle, showing all meekness unto all men, for we ourselves also were, that’s past tense, but now you’re not supposed to be like that. So does the word of God suggest that there should in a Christian’s life be a change? Yes. Does there have to be a change for me to be saved? No. And if I don’t change, does it mean that I’m not a child of God? No.

But the word of God expects us that if we study his word and learn the various teachings in the Bible, it will change us. Remember whenever he says in the book of Romans in chapter 12, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So you were not transformed by trusting Christ as your Savior. You were born into God’s family, but your life, the external part of your living, has never been transformed until you renew your mind because your actions, the choices that you make are in direct ratio to the caliber of your thought.

So whenever you study the word of God, then you can make better decisions and it can transform your life. So many people’s lives are not truly transformed right after salvation. Sometimes it takes years, but he makes a statement here In verse 3, for we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived. This is the description of a lost man. This is the way you were before you were enlightened, before you came to know Christ as your Savior. He says here, we were foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lust and pleasure living in malice and envy, hateful and hating with another.

That’s the way we were. Is that the way God wants us to be now? No. Well what is that basic truth that I’m supposed to have that’s supposed to revolutionize my life? Well he makes a statement here in verse 4, a little word that you should underline in verse four. Notice this word it is a big word but it says but after now something happened that’s the way you were this is the way you’re supposed to be after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared.

This is why if you’re not clear on the gospel, you cannot be clear on the Christian life. Because the teaching of the Christian life is only a reflection of what you learned about the gospel. And it refers to this as the founding, but after that the kindness and love of God our savior toward man appeared. Now what is he asking you and I to do? He says, you were deceptive, you were disobedient, you were foolish, you were filled with malice, you were filled with hatred, you did hate everybody.

And you were filled with faith, but something happened. But after that the grace of God appeared in this gospel story that we tell people is the kernel of truth. That really is the foundation upon which we make a multitude of decisions Because we weren’t kind We weren’t filled with love But where did we learn that from? because of the way that I was and God still loving me and the way that I was and God forgiving me and God demonstrating his love toward me I responded to that So now after we have trusted Christ as our Savior, what God did for me and what He did for you and given to you and I pure grace is that element of truth that teaches us all these other things.

That’s why He says they’re in verse 11 of chapter 2, for the grace of God that bring salvation have appeared to all men. The loving kindness of God, His love, His kindness. Otherwise, God has looked upon as a God of wrath and vengeance. But there’s also a lot of love and the love and the kindness that God showed to us in verse 12, teaching us. But if you are not clear on pure grace, you will not ever be clear on the Christian life because it is an overflow of your understanding of what Christ did on the cross for us.

Look in verse 5 now of chapter 3. Not of works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He saved us. What God did for us after demonstrating up their inverse three the way we were and God still doing all this for us. There are people in the world that are still doing that to God and they will do it to you but you and I are supposed to demonstrate that which God demonstrated toward us. But look there now in verse six which talking about his mercy which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.

That being justified in your underlying, these three words in your Bible, justified by His grace. We should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life because we have eternal life. We became heirs of God and joined heirs with Christ. And there’s a lot of things that God wants us to do. So He left all of us little children in this wicked world to manifest what God is like. And it’s difficult sometimes whenever someone wrongs us. So does the Bible teach us about the other aspects of the Christian life?

Yes, it does. I wrote some things down that I wanted to bring out to you. Because how many times I have been accused of preaching easy believe-ism, cheap grace. Look at Ephesians 2, 8, 9 very quickly. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 and 9. These two verses, two of my favorite verses in the Bible, but notice what he says, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast.

For example, I helped sitting over here and you have to see this in your mind’s eye. There is a a little voice sitting right there, brand new, $200,000. See it? Can you see it over here? It’s sitting right there. Isn’t it beautiful? Gorgeous. And let’s say I’m I’m going to give this thing, I’m going to give it to Tim. Two hundred thousand dollar Rolls Royce and I’m going to give it to Tim. Tim ain’t done anything to deserve it.

I’m just going to give it to him. And I say, Tim, this is what I’ve got and you can have it. And Tim says, look, I really appreciate that. And I can see that that’s a very valuable car. And I really appreciate it. I want to have a part in this. And here’s a nickel to show my appreciation. And I want to give you that.

I don’t want you to give it to me totally. Prey, I mean, I want to give you something, just something. Now, if I accepted that nickel as he gave me something forth, I can’t say I gave him that car. I can say I sold it to him and he can say he bought it, but he can’t say I gave it to him free of charge. That nickel just unbited. It’s undone. It’s no longer free. nickel made that $200,000 car worth a nickel because I can say I sold it for a nickel.

He can say I bought it for a nickel but it’s no longer free. This cheapened the value of the car. Christ gives us salvation by grace and yet there’s a multitude of people think they got to do something. The moment they try to do something to help God or have a part, now they have cheapened the gospel of grace. Then grace is no longer grace. Anything that a person does as payment for something, then if the payment is accepted, it will be worth the value of the payment that was made.

And if you gave him one work, one work, then my salvation was no longer free. He sold it to me for that one work. work. You bought it for that one work. That one work, I could say, was singing in the choir, preaching a message. I gave money to the missionaries. Whatever the work was is what my salvation now cost. It’s no longer free. It is no longer grace. Grace means without, without works, price unmerited you cannot add to it.

Cheap grace is no longer grace and I’ve talked to some preachers who accuse me. You preach that cheap grace, that easy believerism. Stop and think for a moment. Should salvation be something hard to believe are easy to believe. If I told you that this pin was a baby grand piano, that would be hard to believe. But if I told you that it was a pin, you just liable to believe that. That’s so easy to believe. It would be hard for you to believe that this is a baby grand piano.

No man has the right to change God’s message. Every preacher that believes it’s more than grace needs to spell it out. Let’s say for example, I have a magazine that got over there a while ago. Well, I got it last week. And in the message, the invitation, And it makes the statement in order to be saved. This is from a Baptist paper. You must turn from your sins, make Christ the Lord and Master of your life, and be willing to serve Him as Jesus and the Lord, and believe on Christ and receive the free gift of eternal life.

Do you see anything wrong with that? And this is copied by the millions of people around the world. Let’s just pretend for a moment. We’re going to pretend. If I am a preacher and I tell a person that you must turn from your sins in order to be saved, do you not think that it would be important for me to tell that person which ones, if you have to turn from sins to be saved?

Shouldn’t I have along with that a responsibility who list and not miss one of them because their eternal destination depends upon them turning from those sins. Do they have to turn from all of them? Just some of them. Which one? And I’ll bet you you will not find ten preachers at any given time that will agree on what they are. I’ll tell you that you have to turn from your sins to be saved. But now, will they agree on what sins?

And if that has to be all of them… Is it possible? I don’t even know a Christian who has yet turned from all of a sense. Little on a lost man. But if he has to, then my message in the gospel will not be complete unless I included exactly which ones they are. I must be correct. If I list five or if I list ten, it can’t be maybe, it must be exact. Find the verses in the Bible that says exactly which ones I must turn from.

But if you have to, don’t you believe they should have a chapter and verse that proves that, and that lists them. The other thing, for how long? If I must turn from sin to be saved, how long do I have to quit that sin before God does save me? Will He save me because at that moment I promised that I would? Or will He save me when I have quit the sin? Or will happens if I go back to do that sin?

After I quit it for a while. You see, these are all unknown variables that changes the whole thing. But that turning from a sin is I got to do something. That something has just annulled grace. A man cannot be saved both ways. For example, if I was to say this to you, have you ever received a free paycheck? What is a free paycheck? If it’s a paycheck, what is a paycheck for? A paycheck is supposed to be understood to mean that you did a certain amount of work and you’re being paid.

That’s why they call it a paycheck. It’s a value. You earned it. You worked for it. But would the word free paycheck be the same thing? The free will not let me have a paycheck. Paycheck will not let me have a free. Why? have it both ways. It’s impossible. What about a person being a loving murderer? I guess you could say I’m murdering you because I love you. But there might be something wrong with somebody understanding that. Generally a person who murders somebody is because of vengeance and hateful and revenge or something that’s wrong.

It’s not because of love. Love unknows the mirror. Mirror unknows the love. But you can’t have it both ways. Cheap grace, if it’s grace it can’t be cheap. No price to it. No value can add to it. Can’t take nothing away from it. Grace is grace. Let’s say for example, I just met this kid over here, his name’s Tim, norse. He’s 16 years old, right? He a very smart kid. He don’t have a girlfriend yet. Isn’t that wonderful? Very intelligent.

But I say now, bear is an honest thief. Anything wrong with those two words? He’s an honest thief. Well, he steals but he tells you that he did it. An honest thief. Well, if you steal, you’re not honest. If you’re honest, you’re not a thief. You can’t have it both ways. And that’s why there’s people who are saying you’re saved by grace, but then they butt it all over the place. They add to it and they take it away.

They got to do something. And just a little bit, I had a man tell me one time, you can’t tell me that it’s totally free. You’ve got to do something. That’s too easy. So easy. Why don’t you just believe it? It seems like the easier it is to understand the harder it is to believe because some people just can’t believe it. It’s got to be more than that. After I understood what the man was telling me, Mr. Jackson, I couldn’t believe it was free.

It blew my mind. Can you have a person who is a truthful liar, you want a truthful liar. All right, well, that tells the truth. You see, if he’s truthful, then you’re not supposed to be a liar. But if you’re a liar, then you’re not telling the truth. See, there’s words that people use that they don’t fit. Like the gospel, you can’t add grace and works together. Grace means it’s free. Works means you earn it. You understand why you cannot add grace and works together.

You can’t have your say by grace and you’ve got to go to church. Grace and you’ve got to change the life. Grace and you can’t do that because the one knows the other. As a child of God, we should live as godly as we possibly can, but not to get to heaven, but because we’re going there. Look up here. This hand represents you and me and the wallet represents sin. The Bible says that we all have sin on us.

And God says that He loves us, hates our sin. For you and out of paper, that sin is eternal separation from God in a place called hell. But God doesn’t want us to go to hell. He wants us to go to heaven and to go to heaven. We have to be perfect, just as righteous as God, and nobody’s perfect. Now, heaven’s perfect, God is perfect, but we’re not. We can’t go to heaven because our sin keeps us out of heaven.

There’s no sin in her into heaven. So how can a man get into heaven? God says, not by his works. He cannot earn it, he can’t work, but he can’t buy it. There’s no reason for God to save this man, except God loves him. There’s nothing that he’s ever done that causes him to merit God’s wonderful mercy and grace. We will without hope, without strength. There’s nothing that we could have done. This end represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh.

Came into this world because he loves us. He hates our sin because it separates us from him. So Jesus Christ, who had no sinned in half the die, but He took our sins, all of them, paid for it in full on the cross. He did all the work, He gets all the glory. You and I did nothing. We can’t even help. All we can do as a poor wretched sinner is realize I could not save myself. I have nothing to offer.

I will simply accept the free gift of eternal life. And God said He’d put that payment to our account and we get to go to heaven on what He did. He did alone. He doesn’t want our help. He didn’t need our help. We couldn’t help. help. A man is saved by grace, not by works. Let’s pray, show him. Every headbound, every eye closed, no one looking around. If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, one I’d write now just between you and the Lord say, Lord, I know I’m a sin and I believe Christ died, paid for my sins and I’ll trust Him that they may have never ever died.

And if you’ll do that, God will save you and give you eternal life. I believe most of you here, maybe all of you have trusted Christ to save you, but in case someone hasn’t, would you right now. So yes, I believe Christ did that for me and I’ll trust in the take me to heaven when I die. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message.

If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach 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 Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Art. 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.

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’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.

Ask the people of America if they’re beginning to feel the weight of the iron. if it isn’t true that things are changing, and that people are gonna lose jobs and lose their security and lose so much. And every time the Congress meets, we’re in jeopardy of our freedom because they’re passing laws that takes away from the good people that work and provide and give it to those who will not work and will not provide. As I read this article, and I’m talking about our country, we live here.

When I trusted Christ as my savior, I didn’t just get zapped out of here and I’m in heaven now. I still, when I looked in that mirror before I trusted Christ as my Savior and I was ugly, and I looked in that mirror afterwards, I was still ugly, some things have not changed. I still live in America and I still got a wife and I still got children, and I still got responsibilities.

Let’s just pretend for a moment, I’m a lost man. Here’s my wife and I got some kids. I’m lost. It’s my responsibility, I believe, to provide for my family. My responsibility to see that my kids are educated. It’s my responsibility to feed them and to clothe them. It’s not the next door neighbors, not the person in next county, the next state, and it’s not government’s responsibility to take care of my family at all, mine. You see, what are a man’s rights?

Rights are to fulfill God given responsibilities. What am I responsible for? Before there wasÃÂ, what am I responsible for? To take care of my wife and my kids and give them leadership into protection that they need. And if another person wants to harm my family, it’s my duty, my responsibility, my right, to blast them in the kingdom come. You say, I don’t like that. You ought to be thankful for what I hold back.

I have a responsibility, and I want the right to fulfill that responsibility. If I trust Christ as my Savior, because now I am a citizen of the kingdom of light, I’m not part of this world anymore. I’m still a man in a body. Did my wife cease to be my wife? through my kids cease to be my kids because, you know, in the family of God, there’s neither male nor female. When I look in that mirror, I’m still in every man.

And this didn’t change. They still need to be fed. They still need to be clothed. They still need an education. And they still need protection. And I believe that as my God-given responsibility to protect just as much as a lost man would have the right to protect his. Since when, just because I’m a Christian, I don’t have to do that anymore. I don’t have to protect anymore. Yes, I do. As long as I’m in this body, I’ll have that right.

As long as I’m living in this world, I have that right. And it is my duty. And I thank God for every Christian that has volunteered to go into the military and to fight for their country To give them the freedom that they want to have and all I have But we have a bunch of panty-way sissies out there that don’t believe in that anymore bunch of pacifist anyway, I Think my convictions are slowly leaking out here But it greatly concerns me Because you see, the Bible tells us some things that’s going to happen, and I don’t like the direction that’s going.

But I have all we can do is pray, all we can do is pray. But take your Bible and look at this verse, looking verse 49. The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the evil fly is the nation whose tongue thou shall not understand. A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old nor show favor to the young. And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle and the fruit of thy land, thou shalt be destroyed.

And right now we have the substance of America been drained dry, been milk dried. It’s like a woman goes down there to milk the cow. And the government, it’s didn’t got five of those others and you only got one other. And they’re milking her for all she’s worth. And they’re milking our jobs and they’re milking everything that you’ve ever saved and they’re milking the value of your homes. And right now, every dollar they print is making the one you got in your pocket worth less.

So you’re joking. No, I’m not joking. They’re destroying our country. We’re going into socialism. That is not what this country was founded upon. We’re not a democracy. republic and we ought to be proud that we are a republic and it ain’t over yet we should love our country and love our freedom that we’re willing to stand and to fight for our freedoms but it says now listen if you don’t listen to me this is what’s gonna happen he says a nation of fierce countenance in verse 50 is gonna come and they’re gonna eat the fruit of the cattle in the fruit of a land.

Looking verse 52, and he shall be seized the on all thy gates until the high and the fence walls come down. We’re endowed trust us throughout thy land and he shall be seized the on all thy gates throughout all the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. And shall eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters. You’re talking about it gets so bad that the people would boil their own children and eat their own kids.

And when Babylon came, this is exactly what took place because they disobeyed God. You can’t live as a nation and get away with it and live any way you please. There’s a price to pay. Pay day someday and America is going to pay for the things that we have allowed to happen in this country. Sodomy is going to be a hate word one day and this preacher is going to wind up in jail one day because I’m still against abortion.

I call it murder. I’m still against the sodomite, though I love them. God can save them and they can have eternal life, but it’s a sin of which God is judges country. And that’s going to be a hate crime. And they’ve got legislation right now to put guys like me all across this country behind bars. And that’s not a joke either. We’re losing the right to say what we believe is the truth. Well, I’m not dead yet, and I’m going to fight it every bit of the way and gum it to death if I have to.

I love living. I love life. I love the Word of God. But I believe too many of God’s people have done gone to sleep because we’re not having so much today’s to face an enemy from without. We got the enemy on the inside, and little do you understand how close you lived to this enemy. The enemy is the person that probably lives next door. It could be the person sitting right beside you in Sunday school this morning, we’re in church service right now.

The person that bags your groceries or the person down at the bank. So how do they become my enemy? when they vote away your rights. When they elect people who will vote to give them something and take it from those who produce. They’re destroying our country. That’s an enemy on the inside. And America will be destroyed without the people ever firing a shot. I heard about a movie one day, I never saw it called White Man Can’t Jump. Anybody ever heard of that movie?

White Man Can’t Jump has something to do with basketball. and that the black guys can out-junk the white guys. The white guy can’t jump. Well, I was gonna title sermon one day called white men can’t jump. Has not do with racism, but it has to do with the water that’s boiling. And you take a frog and you throw that frog into that boiling water and you’ll jump right out of there. But if you put that frog into some cold water and then turn the heat up little by little, It’ll finally get to where it’ll cook that frog cause he won’t jump out.

We’ve been like putting a pressure cooker. And little by little, this country of ours is turning up the heat and we have lost the will to jump. We can’t jump. In other words, we can’t get out of this mess. How can we get out of the situation that we’re in? Nobody knows how. Washington is not our answer. It is part of our problem. But they’re the problem because the people are the problem who put them there. And I don’t care if it’s Republican or Democrat or foot washing aborigines.

I don’t care who they are. If we had men of character that knew right from wrong, who knew what the Constitution said and go by it, pretend for a moment, I’m in a bad neighborhood. So in this bad neighborhood, I got me a pit bull and I got him on a leash. Now I feel safer as I walk down the sidewalk. Why? Because Well that pit bull loves me, hates them. And they try to get me, my pit bull gonna get them.

But I gotta leash. When the founding of this country took place, we developed what we call a Congress. We had a judicial system, the executive branch, you know the House of Representatives and the Senators. And so we created this thing, our own little pit bull, so that it could protect us from the enemy out there. But we got him on a lease. This lease is called our Constitution. And the Constitution is the change by which we bind our pit bull.

So you can’t go no further than this chain allows you to go. So the Constitution is to change upon Congress and what you can and cannot do. And we listed it, saying this is what you have the freedom to do. When you get outside of that boundary, that becomes a null and voided law. People in America that they think, think, whatever they pass, we’re supposed to obey. No. We are to challenge every law that they pass. And if it’s not a constitutional law, it is the right.

It is the duty of every American citizen to violate that law, not obey that law, because it’s a wrong law. But the only way they can do us is to make sure that we have some kids come up that don’t know their constitution, don’t know their rights, don’t understand. And then whatever he feeds me, I will swallow. Nope. And the people don’t know how to think. They have been dumbed down. Thanks to the parents and then their children. Remember, I am an evangelist.

I not only want to win souls, I warn people. I think I see a little bit further down the road than what most people do. I see where we came from, where we’re going. I see where we are. It breaks my heart to cause I see what was being done. And sometimes the naivety of the people that don’t seem to understand the situation, but see that old pit bull then broke loose from the Constitution. And buddy, they’re ravaging everybody.

Now, that pit bull has unturned on its owner. Let me make sure you understand. See, we’re different from most countries. The Bible talks about every soul be subject unto the higher power. The higher power is God. Every soul is subject to God. No legislative branch of any government has the right to pass any law that conflicts with God’s law. And when the disciples who says obey every law and every ordinance of man, obey the law until that law violated God’s law.

And then they said, here we stand. We can do no other. And it meant going to jail. They went to jail. And Paul was beheaded because he took the right. I am a legal citizen, freeborn citizen of Rome. He said, I appeal to Caesar. He knew the law. He knew his rights. And that’s why he wound up in Rome. Went to court, lost his case, lost his head. But Paul was a great man, great patriot. We are living at the most exciting time of all of human history.

And one day, our children are going to wonder why didn’t we stop it from happening? Is America gone to sleep? Wake up, America. Christians wake up. This is our country. We dishonor our veterans when we won’t preserve the country of which they died for. We become a joke. I hope you understand what I’m saying. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Romans in chapter 13. Romans chapter 13 says in verse 1, let every soul be subject unto the higher power.

For there is no power but of God, the powers that be ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil. Will thou not be afraid of the power? Do thou which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. For if thou do that which is evil, be afraid.

For he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is the minister of God a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. This is the purpose, the legitimate purpose of government. And we pay taxes for our government. But remember in America we do not have a king. We do not have a Caesar. In America, you and I are the rulers and we are the kings.

Washington, those are our servants, not our rulers. They’re not there as a king and they’re not there There’s the rule America. We rule. We are free-born, free people. We’re not in slavery. And we created a government to fulfill their responsibility to protect this country, not to rule us. They have no authority. You can’t find it in the Constitution. I’ve read it. I’ve studied it. I’ve taught it. The things that they’re doing today is not in the Constitution, it is illegal.

They have no authority to do what they’re doing. And all this borrowing of money, putting an indebted on us, now we’re even borrowing money from China, and they will begin to be the ones in all these other countries from where we get our own. They are going to start wagging the dog. become the tale because we’re so deep in debt. Who cares about government being in debt? Most families are in debt, living beyond their means. These scriptures are very simple and very clear.

Whenever you stop and think about this, the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, How would we apply that? See, our founding fathers knew that you can never trust government. So they said, we have the right to bear arms. That’s not so that I can go bear hunting. In September, I’m supposed to go bear hunting. And it’s not so I can just protect myself whenever some guy tries to break in my house. That’s not the real reason of why that’s Second Amendment’s in there.

It’s in there because they feared government. And we want the right to protect ourselves against government. And therefore, Congress shall not touch our guns because as last resorts, we ought to use them. And I don’t like it when I see them starting to mess around with the Second Amendment or want to tax the ammo so high you can’t buy. What good is a gun without ammo? Does somebody have evil in their mind? They should fear the right wingers. They should fear those people who still believe in their constitutional rights.

They should fear those veterans that come in back who fight for this country. Because if they don’t tow the mark and stay within their boundaries of the Constitution, They ought to be afraid. They ought to be afraid of their rulers, like it says right here. Feel your rulers. You and I, we’re the rulers. Those are our servants. And we’ve let our servants become that pit bull that turns on its owner. And God forbid what’s going to happen. I don’t know about you, but I can see dark days ahead unless God intervenes or raise up some patriots in America.

And say, that’s right. far enough. We wait too long, see, we won’t be able to jump out of the water. I see them turning up the heat and it seemed like the foot’s on the accelerator. I love my freedom. I love to preach the truth of God’s Word. I was not born in fear and I’ll not live in fear. The only thing that people can do to me is take my life and I’ve already given that away. I’m a child of God.

I’m a child of the King and I’m not going to live like a peasant. I’m going to live without bound my knee. I don’t worship the state. I don’t worship the government. I worship the Lord Jesus Christ and I’m going to stand for that and stand until the day I die. Now, I don’t know how that sets with a lot of people, but it really doesn’t matter to me. I don’t even know what time it is. I’m not even sure what day it is.

I never even got to my message. I really don’t even know. I was just reminded, this is Veterans Day, you ought to say something about the Veterans. So I just decided to say something about the Veterans. Either we’re fighting for something or we’re not. Because I, as a Christian, do I have the right to defend my country? I had people say, well, when you’re Christian, you’re not supposed to do that anymore. Well, then that’s a different brand of Christianity I know nothing about.

If you disagree with everything else I said, so be it, but this is very important. This is heaven and hell here. This is you and me. This is sin. We all have sin on us. God says that He loves us. He hates our sin, but he loves us. And God says that if we pay for this sin, the wages in being dead, the eternal separation from God in a place called hell. Now God doesn’t want us to go to hell, he wants us to go to heaven.

To go to heaven we have to be perfect just as righteous as God. None of us are perfect, none of us are righteous. You see, because of sin we can’t get in. God is a good God, he’s a perfect God, righteous God. And he says that he loves us, but he says, you can’t earn eternal life. You can’t work your way to heaven. You say you don’t join a church to go to heaven. You don’t give money to go to heaven.

You can’t earn eternal life. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord. God in the flesh. He came into this world because he loves us. He hates our sin because it separates us from him. So the Bible says Jesus Christ because of his love for us, he took the sin, paid for it on the cross and came back from the dead. And he said that if we would believe that he did it for us, that he had put that paymatite count and we can know that we have eternal life, know that we’re going to heaven whenever we die.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever, anybody whosoever, believe it than him, should not perish but have everlasting life. I’m going to heaven all because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross for me. And after I trusted Christ as my Savior, yes, God gave me eternal life and I became his child. But I still had the responsibility to be faithful to my wife. And we’re both living in physical bodies. That didn’t change.

I still had the responsibility to feed and clothe and educate my children. That didn’t change. And if I have the right to do all of that, did I somehow surrender my right to protect them? Where did I, where do I read that in the Bible? I don’t have to protect them anymore. If you want to break into my house and kill my wife and children, may I help you? I want to do the Christian thing here. Like I wrote Quaker said to a man one day, it broke into his house, he says, sir, I mean the no harm.

But I’ll stand right where I’m about to shoot. Now, if you didn’t get dead, somebody I’ll have to explain it to you later. But if I offered you my wallet and you accept you to have a wallet. I’ve offered you this microphone, you’d have a microphone. Well, if Jesus Christ walks up here and offered you eternal life and you accepted, what would you have? Eternal life. So can you know you have eternal life? Can you know you’re going to heaven before you die?

Yeah. That’s what it’s all about. The best news in all the world. Christian, don’t be ashamed of being a Christian. Be proud of your Christian. But live like a Christian. Speak out against the things that you know is wrong. Stand where God stands on truth. Hate what God hates. This is what I call that a hate crime. Hate what God hates. If they got a problem with it, let them deal with it. See, they might put me in jail.

So be it. We need people in there for geoministries. Do not live in fear. Fear will make you a coward. Let’s pray, shall we? Every hit by on every eye closed. If you hear today and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, friend, I wish you would. I’m not going to have you forward, not going to embarrass you, but right where you’re sitting. So I don’t understand everything. I’m not even sure I agree with everything that you said. But friend, can you believe this?

You know that God loves you? Would you believe that his son died on that cross and paid for your sins? Would you believe that if you trusted him right now, he’d save you and give eternal life? Never cast you out, never lose you. Would you trust Jesus Christ right now as your only hope of going to heaven? If you’ve never done it, do it right now. I’m going to ask for raise your hand in just a moment. Raise in your hand and just to let me know that what I said made sense to you.

And you said, preach to that made sense to me and I’ll trust Christ as my Savior. And I’d like you to pray for me. We’ll just slip you in it very quickly. Anyone at all, just God bless you man. Anyone else? No one’s going to make you. Nobody’s going to force you. uthoricking you. Not going to ask you to come up and go forward or anything like that. Don’t want you to sign anything. Anyone else say, yes, I’ll trust Christ as my Savior this morning.

I’d like you to pray for me. Just slip it up very quickly for a rep back down. You’re that no crisis you’re Savior, you’re God’s child. I don’t know where you’re standing all this stuff, but I want you to love the Lord. I want you to love your family. I want you to love your country. Be thankful for the freedoms that we’ve enjoyed. And be thankful for the people that died to give us this country. They had their lives shortened, didn’t get to live because they sacrificed theirs.

so that we could live ours, so that we could have this enjoyment, this wonderful country. Stand for truth. Freedom is an opportunity to serve God with all your heart. Our Father, we thank you so much for the individuals that indicated by an uplift at hand, that they would accept the payment you made on the cross for them. By doing so, they become your child, and you’ll never cast them out, never lose them. We ask Father your blessings upon each person here, each family.

We’re thankful Father for this day, Memorial Day to honor those who have died. We also want to remember the one who died for us on the cross and whom we serve 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 Bible line and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10.30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryuptampa.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bible Live, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. friend one day it will happen the trumpet will sound we will be changed hot up to meet the Lord in the air so live today and every day believe in that the Lord is coming soon just keep looking up

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

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

I appreciate that song. He was playing while I go on the organ. Now you may not have noticed, but if you’ve been in the military, you marched to that. But I can still, I went all the way back to 1959, 1959 in boot camp, marching. If I loved anything about boot camp, it was the marching. I loved the marching. But anyway, it’s good to be with you again. I told him this morning that we was traveling down the road in our motorhome and we had what we called Himalayan chicken because we found Himalayan on the road.

It was the only joke I had and I told in Sunday school I had to tell it again. In case you never had any Himalayan chicken. I love America. I love living here. I think it’s great. I’m glad I was born here. I am an American. And I’m glad that when I trusted Christ in my Savior, I did not cease to be an American. I did not cease to be a citizen of this great country. I am still here.

And I want to share some things with you that I hope that you’ll understand and appreciate Because there’s a lot of people who really don’t honor our veterans that have died for this country. There’s people who really think that they should have never fought in the first place. I think we owe them so much for the freedoms that we have. So easy to take everything for granted. But I believe we’re close to losing the freedoms that they died for.

The thing that separated us from so many countries, They died to protect us from we’re slowly becoming like those nations. And that’s a shame. When we become like the other nations, we dishonor our veterans who died to make us different to give us freedom. And what really breaks my heart is to see so many people not willing to fight for their country. I want to explain a few things to you. The title of this sermon, if you want to have a title, is called Heads We Win, Tails We Lose.

Isn’t that an easy one? I used to always trick the kids when I would flip a coin. Heads I win tells you lose, and they never figured it out. They never figured it out, what I said. But I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 28, Deuteronomy and chapter 28. long ago a memo was leaked about the homegrown terrorist in America accusing those on the extreme right of being terrorists in our country and that they need to be watching us.

Because when you say extreme right, I am extreme as right as you can get. I don’t know if you can get any further to the right than what I get. tie even leans to the right. When I walk, I lean to the right. And they came out with a list of even talking about the veterans and even those who are coming back from the war have been considered a possibility for being a terrorist, a homegrown terrorist in our country.

For those that are against abortion or if you’re against the sodomites, if you’re against those things, then you’re on the extreme right, and you are a terror to our country. Now I’m not making this up. This just came out not long ago. There’s been a lot of people talk about it, but I’m not going to get into all of that stuff. But I want to tell you about why I believe that as we win and as we lose. Here in the book of Deuteronomy, God gave us the story of a nation, the nation of Israel, a unique nation risen up by the Almighty watchful eye of God.

And it makes a statement here in Deuteronomy chapter 28, if you will, look there in the verse 12. The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto the land in his season, and to bless all the work of thy hand. Thou shalt lend unto many nations, thou shalt not borrow.” Let me read that one more time. Thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.” I mentioned one time that this is God’s stimulus package.

This is the book that we’re supposed to go by to run our homes and our churches and our government. And if we will abide by the Bible, it will work. Truth doesn’t change. This is truth. And he says in verse 13, And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail, and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath. If thou harken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day to observe and to do them, if you will do what I say do, God said, I’m going to bless you.

none of the diseases of the heathens and the Egyptians upon you. I’ll watch over and our protect. They still had a king. They had an army. They were to fight for their land. It’s strange how many times it seemed like I hear Christians say, well, if our kingdom was of this world, we would fight. But since our kingdom is not of this world, we’re not supposed to fight. I know that scripture. I even know who said it. There’s something inside of me that goes back when I read about our founding fathers, how that it was the man of God, the preacher in the pulpit that had his Bible on the podium and is musket by the podium, that rallied the the people together to say, this is our country and it’s our freedom and it’s our future and it’s our kids and it’s our grandkids and they were willing to fight for our country.

But 200 years later, we can’t do that because after all, we’re Christians. They weren’t. We can honor the dead who gave us this land, fought for this land, but we can’t do the same to keep this land and to fight for our freedoms. I told someone just this the other day. I would be greatly disappointed, greatly disappointed that if fifty years from now my grandkids Could, if I was still alive, look me square in the eye and say, Grandpa, why didn’t you do something about it?

We’ve lost all of our freedoms. We’re totally a socialistic country or a communist country. We’re ruled by a dictator or taken over by some foreign power. And they did it without firing a shot. Nobody did anything because you all were Christians. Are we supposed to believe that only the lost people fought during the Revolutionary War? It was only the lost people fought during the Civil War or the war between the states? It was only the lost people that fought all these battles for us.

Only the lost people went in World War I and went to Vietnam War and the Gulf War, only the lost people fought for our freedoms. And it’s okay for them to bleed and die for our country, but don’t let a Christian do it, huh? There’s something inside of me that says, that ain’t right. And I don’t believe that. Here in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 28, look in verse 43. He’s telling the nation of Israel. God has already done had his word with Moses and Moses has wrote it down.

It says, when you get into the land, remember what I tell you. He says, if you’ll do what I tell you to do, everything will work. You go against me, it’s going to go against you. He says in verse 43, the stranger that is within thee, get this, these are strangers that are within them. They’re not citizens. They’re not citizens, they’re strangers in your land. Ones that you didn’t take care of when you went in there. They had kids and they grew and they multiplied.

The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high and thou shall come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and thou shall be the tail. Things are gonna get reversed. And then he says, when that doesn’t solve the total problem, he says, some other things are going to happen. In verse 45, more over all these curses shall come upon thee and shall pursue thee and overtake thee till thou be what?

Until you destroyed, because thou hearketh not unto the voice of the Lord thy God to keep his commandments and the statutes which he commanded thee, and they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder and upon thy seed forever. because thou serveeth not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with all gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things therefore shall thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in want of all things and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck until he have destroyed you.

Ask the people of America if they’re beginning to feel the weight of the iron. If it isn’t true that things are changing and that people are going to lose jobs and lose their security and lose so much and every time the Congress meets we’re in jeopardy of our freedom because they’re passing laws that takes away from the good people that work and provide and give it to those who will not work and will not provide as I read this article and I’m talking about our country.

We live here. When I trusted Christ as my Savior, I didn’t just get zapped out of here and I’m in heaven now. I still, when I looked in that mirror before I trusted Christ as my Savior and I was ugly and I looked in that mirror afterwards, I was still ugly. Some things have not changed. I still live in America and I still got a wife and I I still got children and I still got responsibilities. Let’s just pretend for a moment I’m a lost man.

Here’s my wife and I got some kids. I’m lost. It’s my responsibility I believe to provide for my family. My responsibility to see that my kids are educated. It’s my responsibility to feed them and to clothe them. It’s not the next door neighbors, not the person in next county, the next state, and it’s not government’s responsibility to take care of my family at all. Mine. You see, what are a man’s rights? Rights are to fulfill God-given responsibilities. What am I responsible for?

Before there was government, what am I responsible for? to take care of my wife and my kids and give them leadership and to protection that they need. And if another person wants to harm my family, it’s my duty, my responsibility, my right to blast them in the kingdom come. You say, I don’t like that. You ought to be thankful for what I hold back.

I have a responsibility, and I want the right to fulfill that responsibility. If I trust Christ as my Savior, because now I am a citizen of the Kingdom of Light, I’m not part of this world anymore. I’m still a man and a body. Did my wife cease to be my wife? Do my kids cease to be my kids? Because in the family of God, there’s neither male nor female. When I looked in that mirror, I’m still a male, and every much a man.

And this didn’t change. They still need to be fed. They still need to be clothed. They still need an education. And they still need protection. And I believe that as my God-given responsibility to protect just as much as a lost man would have the right to protect his. Since when, just because I’m a Christian, I don’t have to do that anymore. I don’t have to protect anymore. Yes, I do. As long as I’m in this body, I’ll have that right.

As long as I’m living in this world, I have that right. And it is my duty. And I thank God for every Christian that has volunteered to go into the military and to fight for their country to give them the freedom that they want to have and all I have. But we have a bunch of panty-way sissies out there that don’t believe in that anymore. A bunch of pacifists. Anyway I think my convictions are slowly leaking out here. But it greatly concerns me because you see the Bible tells us some things that’s going to happen and I don’t like the direction that it’s going.

But I have all we can do is pray, all we can do is pray. But take your Bible and look at this verse. Look in verse 49, The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far. From the end of the earth, as swift as the evil fly is the nation whose tongue thou shall not understand. A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old nor show favor to the young. And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle and the fruit of thy land, and thou shalt be destroyed.

And right now we have the substance of America been drained dry, been milked dry. It’s like a woman goes down there to milk the cow. And the government has done got five of those others, and you only got one other. And they’re milking her for all she’s worth. And they’re milking our jobs. And they’re milking everything that you’ve ever saved. and they’re milking the value of your homes. And right now, every dollar they print is making the one you got in your pocket worth less.

So you’re joking. No, I’m not joking. They’re destroying our country. We’re going into socialism. That is not what this country was founded upon. We’re not a democracy. We are a republic. And we ought to be proud that we are a republic. And it ain’t over yet. We should love our country and love our freedom that we’re willing to stand and to fight for our freedoms But he says now listen if you don’t listen to me, this is what’s gonna happen He says a nation of fierce countenance in verse 50 is gonna come and they’re gonna eat the fruit of the cattle in the fruit of a land Looking verse 52 and he shall be seized the on all thy gates Until the high and the fence walls come down were endowed trust us throughout thy land, and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all the land which the

Lord thy God giveth thee, and shall eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters. You talking about it gets so bad that the people would boil their own children and eat their own kids. And when Babylon came this is exactly what took place because they disobeyed God. You can’t live as a nation and get away with it and live any way you please. There’s a price to pay. Pay day someday, and America’s gonna pay for the things that we have allowed to happen in this country.

Sodomy is gonna be a hate word one day, and this preacher is gonna wind up in jail one day because I’m still against abortion, I call it murder. I’m still against the sodomite, though I love them. God can save them and they can have eternal life, but it’s a sin of which God is judges country. And that’s gonna be a hate crime. And they’ve got legislation right now to put guys like me all across this country behind bars. And that’s not a joke either.

We’re losing the right to say what we believe is the truth. Well, I’m not dead yet. And I’m gonna fight it every bit of the way and go into death if I have to. I love living, I love life. I love the Word of God, but I believe too many of God’s people have done gone to sleep. Because we’re not having so much today is to face an enemy from without. We’ve got the enemy on the inside. And little do you understand how close you live to this enemy.

The enemy is the person that probably lives next door. It could be the person sitting right beside you in Sunday school this morning, we’re in church service right now. The person that bags your groceries or the person down at the bank. So how do they become my enemy? When they vote away your rights. When they elect people who will vote to give them something and take it from those who produce, they’re destroying our country. That’s an enemy on the inside.

and America will be destroyed without the people ever firing a shot. I heard about a movie one day, I never saw it, called White Men Can’t Jump. Anybody ever heard of that movie? White Men Can’t Jump has something to do with basketball, and that the black guys can out-junk the white guys. The white guy can’t jump. Well, I was on our title sermon one day called White Men Can’t Jump. It has not to do with racism, but it What it has to do with the water, the spoiling, and you take a frog and you throw that frog into that boiling water and you’ll jump right out of there.

But if you put that frog into some cold water and then turn the heat up little by little, it’ll finally get to where it’ll cook that frog because he won’t jump out. We’ve been like putting a pressure cooker. And little by little, this country of ours is turning up the heat and we have lost the will to jump.

We can’t jump. In other words, we can’t get out of this mess. How can we get out of the situation that we’re in? Nobody knows how. Washington is not our answer. It is part of our problem. But they’re the problem because the people are the problem who put them there. And I don’t care if it’s Republican or Democrat or footwash and aberrations. I don’t care who they are. If we had men of character that knew right from wrong, who knew what the Constitution said and go by it, pretend for a moment, I’m in a bad neighborhood.

So in this bad neighborhood, I got me a pit bull and I got him on a leash. Now I feel safer as I walk down the sidewalk. because that pit bull loves me, hates them. And they try to get me, my pit bull gonna get them. But I gotta leash. When the founding of this country took place, we developed what we call a Congress. We had a judicial system, the executive branch, you know, the House of Representatives and the Senators.

And so we created this thing, our own little pit bull, so that it could protect us from the enemy out there. But we got him on a lease. This lease is called our Constitution. And the Constitution is the change by which we bind our pit bull. Saying you can’t go no further than this chain allows you to go. So, the Constitution is to change upon Congress and what you can and cannot do. And we listed it, saying, this is what you have the freedom to do.

When you get outside of that boundary, that becomes a null and voided law. People in America that they think, think, whatever they pass, we’re supposed to obey. No. We are to challenge every law that they pass. And if it’s not a constitutional law, it is the right. It is the duty of every American citizen to violate that law, not obey that law, because it’s a wrong law. But the only way they can do us is to make sure that we have some kids come up come up that don’t know their constitution, don’t know their rights, don’t understand.

And then whatever he feeds me, I will swallow. Nope. And the people don’t know how to think. They have been dumbed down. Thanks to the parents and then their children. Remember, I am an evangelist. I not only want to win souls, I warn people. I think I see a little bit further down the road to what most people do. I see where we came from, where we’re going, I see where we are. It breaks my heart to cause I see what was being done.

And sometimes the naivety of the people that don’t seem to understand the situation, but see that old pit bull, then broke loose from the Constitution. And buddy, they’re ravaging everybody. That pit bull has unturned on its owner. Let me make sure you understand. See we’re different from most countries. The Bible talks about every soul be subject unto the higher power. The higher power is God. Every soul is subject to God. No legislative branch of any government has the right to pass any law that conflicts with God’s law.

And when the disciples who says obey every law and every ordinance of man, obey the law until that law violated God’s law. And then they said, here we stand, we can do no other. And it meant going to jail, they went to jail. And Paul was beheaded because he took the right, I am a legal citizen, freeborn citizen of Rome. He said, I appeal to Caesar. He knew the law, he knew his rights. And that’s why he wound up in Rome.

Went to court, lost his case, lost his head. But Paul was a great man, great patriot. We are living at the most exciting time of all of human history. And one day, our children are going to wonder why didn’t we stop it from happening? Is America gone to sleep? Wake up, America. Christians wake up. This is our country. We dishonor our veterans when we won’t preserve the country of which they died for. We become a joke. I hope you understand what I’m saying.

Take your Bible and turn to the book of Romans in chapter 13. Romans chapter 13 says in verse one let every soul be subject unto the higher power. For there is no power but of God, the powers that be ordained of God, whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil. Will thou not be afraid of the power?

Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. For if thou do that which is evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is the minister of God a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. This is the purpose, the legitimate purpose of government. And we pay taxes for our government. But remember in America, we do not have a king.

We do not have a Caesar. In America, you and I are the rulers and we are the kings. Washington, those are our servants, not our rulers. They’re not, there’s a king and they’re not, there’s the rule of America. We rule. We are freeborn, free people. We’re not in slavery. And we created a government to fulfill their responsibility to protect this country, not to roll us. They have no authority. You can’t find it in the Constitution. I’ve read it, I’ve studied it, I’ve taught it.

The thing that they’re doing today is not in the Constitution. It is illegal. They have no authority to do what they’re doing. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771.

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

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

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

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 Bible line 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.

You know, after we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior, it is the will of God that we serve the Lord. But some people learn lessons the hard way. They don’t serve the Lord like they should, and so God has to chase and has to discipline. But one of the things that is of very great hindrance to our service for the Lord is never really being sure that you’re saved. You see, you can’t grow in the Lord when you’re always doubting whether or not am I really saved, do I really have eternal life, am I really God’s child?

There are two teachings that are very prevalent in theological circles, which means in the ecumenical realm and the church realm. And those two teachings come from the teaching of Armenianism or Calvinism. Somebody asked me, says, are you Armenian or are you a Calvinist and they want me to tell them which one I am. I said I’m neither one. They said well you got to be one of the other. I said no I don’t. Well are you a five-point Calvinist or a three-point Calvinist or a one-point Calvinist?

I said I’m no point Calvinist. Well they don’t like that because you see like people like to put labels on you say this is what you are. I wrote it down here so it’s very simple and very clear for you to understand. Introduction. While they appeared to be on the opposite extremes of the theological spectrum, a Calvinist believes in eternal security and Armenian belief you can lose your salvation. So you know that things that are different are not the same and you know that that’s not the same.

One is that you are eternally secure and the other one you can lose it. So you say, well, you’ve got to believe one of those. Yeah, but in quotes, the Calvinists believe that you have eternal life as long as you persevere and that you will persevere if you’re really saved. The consistent Calvinists, the one who believes in the perseverance of the saints means, if you got it, you’ll live it. But if you don’t live it, it’s because you never had it.

There are those who teach that if you are saved, you are a Christian, you are born again, happy, turn alive, God’s child. Well then you will, automatic, you will live right. But if you don’t, it’s a sign you never really were saved to start with. So you got to get saved for real the next time. And this time really mean business. But if you don’t perform, it’s because you weren’t really serious about the situation and you weren’t really saved.

Now do I believe that? No. I believe that you can be saved today. Have eternal life. You may never show it in your life. It’s still a bit Christian. And I believe the Bible teaches that. Now the other view concerning the Armenians, look at this, the absolute Armenian who believes you can lose your salvation arrives at the same conclusion in the in. No certain assurance of going to heaven until you die. If a person believes that when you really say it, you will live it.

You will in all your life. Can’t know for sure that they are really a Christian until they have lived it and know for sure that when they die, they finally made it. Because if they end their life, ever go back on what they started out on this Christian walk, if they fail it in the future, they’re supposed to believe by their own testimony, they never really were saved. So how do they know that tomorrow or the next week or the next year they won’t really mess up?

And if they really do mess up, they’re supposed to believe, well, I will never really saved in the first place, because if you’re really saved, you’re not going to do that. And yet, many of them do just that. So they have reasons to question their salvation, so they don’t really know they’re going to make it because they believe in the perseverance of the saints. The saints will persevere. I don’t believe the saints have to persevere. I believe that I’m saved and that God saves me, and it’s His job to keep me saved.

I was saved by His power and I am kept saved by His power. I am not kept saved by my good deeds. Therefore I know today I have eternal life, and I do not believe in the perseverance of the saints. Because I know that in me dwelleth no good thing in my flesh. I know that I still sin. I still do things that are wrong. I don’t have to worry about what happens if you really mess up. Well, really messing up or telling a lie or having a dirty thought, still sin.

But I don’t have to worry about any sin condemning me to hell because I can’t go there. I’m saved by grace. Now on the other hand, here’s the others who teach that you can lose your salvation. And they believe that if you do something bad enough, long enough that you’re eventually you’re going to lose your salvation, but they don’t know how many sins they have to commit and they don’t know exactly what point you really lost it. So that they don’t nearly know when they lost it, they don’t know when to get it back again.

And then they don’t know for sure if they’re gonna really hang on until they die to know for sure that they made it. You see, that’s not the Bible. Neither one has assurance, but can you be sure of going to heaven? Yes, she can. So I’m not an Armenian because you see, I don’t believe you can lose it. I don’t believe in the perseverance of the saints. I believe in the perseverance of God. He saves me and He keeps me safe.

So see, I’m neither one of those. Their eternal security depends upon them living it, and if they don’t live it, they didn’t have it. And I believe that people can trust Christ as Savior and be disobedient to God, and still be God’s child. And God will have to chase in them. Eternal security, I mean, eternally being secure, means that one who has genuinely saved by God’s grace through faith alone and Christ alone shall never, in the future never be in danger of God’s condemnation or loss of his salvation, but are kept saved and secure by God’s grace and power.

So that when I trusted Christ, he saved me and I’m going to heaven based upon his word, his promise. He is going to keep me saved. I am saved by his power and kept saved by his power. If I didn’t have the power to save myself, I don’t have the power to keep myself saved. If I can believe that I’m saved by grace without my good works, why can’t I believe I can stay saved without my good works? Because grace would still be grace.

I want you to understand these important points. Eternal security does not mean that all who profess to trust Christ actually possess eternal life. You say, what do you mean? That sounds contradictory. Can you profess something and it not be true? Could you stand up here today and profess that you have a million dollars in the bank? Yes, you can. Does that mean you got a million dollars in the bank? Not necessarily. Some of y’all have already professed that when I married this girl, I’m gonna be faithful to her till death to us part.

And then not keep the word. You profess something, but you didn’t perform it. A person can profess that they know God and not know Him. Now you say, where’s it say that? I’m glad you asked. Look in the book of Matthew, chapter seven. Matthew chapter seven, look at verse 21. Notice, and Jesus Christ is the one that’s doing the talking. He’s the one that said this. So Jesus Christ has got, this is what God said. I had a person one time tell me, well, I don’t think you ought to be the judge.

I said, I’m not the judge. I’m just telling you what the judge said. He’s the judge. I can tell you what he said, because he wrote it down and told us to study. This is what he said. Not everyone that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven. So is it possible somebody to profess the name of the Lord? Look what else he says in verse 22, many shall say to me in that many.

Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out them? And in thy name done many wonderful works. They did it all in his name and did it for him. And yet he says, depart from me. I never knew you. And so it doesn’t mean that just because they profess something that they really are saved. And so there’s people who say, well, I’m a Christian, that doesn’t mean they are. I mean people all the time, I asked them, I said, have you trusted Christ as you say?

Oh yes, where are you going to die? I don’t know, then they don’t understand it. To get saved means you got eternal life. To get saved means you don’t go to hell. To get saved means that you’re going to heaven. That’s what being saved means. It can’t mean anything else. Being saved means he saved you from what from hell so I can’t go there He says that I’ll go to heaven whenever I die He’ll never cast me out. He’ll never lose me so I can rest assured But a lot of people see they can say something but it doesn’t mean that it’s real.

It’s not true He said many of y’all say me Lord or have we not look what we did and they’re professing themselves to be Believers in God They follow his principles and his teaching, but they just haven’t trusted him depending upon him to get him to heaven The next statement eternal security does not mean that all who trust Christ plus their good works are eternally secure The Bible doesn’t say that God saves those who are trusting in their works and in Christ to get him to heaven Or really going to heaven if God says that if it’s by grace it can’t be by works, otherwise, graces and grace.

But if it is by works, it can’t be by grace, otherwise work isn’t work. It’s how simple that is. It means you either are saved by grace or you saved by work, but you can’t be saved by both. Now look during the book of Galatians in chapter 5. Many people are trusting in a combination of Christ plus their works. Eternally secured does not refer to those people. Eternal security cannot refer to anybody that professes it but don’t possess it.

Eternal security cannot refer to anybody who is trusting in Christ and their works to get them to heaven. It doesn’t refer to those people. There’s people who think you have to keep the law to be saved. Today it’s the same thing of saying you got to go to church, you got to live right, you got to give money, You’ve got to join and pay and all these good things. No, no, no, that’s not true. That’s works for salvation. That means you’re trying to earn it.

And if you’re not good enough, long enough, then you’re not going to have it. Well, that’s not the Bible. Galatians chapter five, look there in verse two. So he says in verse two, Behold, I Paul send to you that if you be circumcised, that means to keep the law. Christ shall profit you how much? Nothing, Christ profits you nothing. Those that are seeking to save themselves by the law or by being circumcised, which was under the law. He says, then Christ profits you nothing.

He’s, well, I’m trusting Christ, but I’m going to do this also. Well, then you’re not trusting Him. Trusting Him means I’m taking Him at His Word and depending upon Him. But if you try to earn it, say you’re depending upon yourself. So you’re not really trusting Christ. He said, what’s the difference? Hell, that’s the difference. Heaven or hell? Is it critical? Yes it is. Otherwise, how do you know you’re not one of those that simply says, Lord, Lord, I went to church and I signed in the choir.

And I followed your teachings and I even prayed and I did all these wonderful things. And God says, I’m sorry, I don’t even know who you are. I never knew you. You never were saved. It’s got to refer to somebody because he says many are going to say this. So there’s many people that are sitting in a lot of churches all over the world that are guilty of this. And how do you know it ain’t you? You said, I’ve heard this all my life, but do you really understand?

Are you really dependent upon him to take you to heaven when you die? Here in verse four, he says, Christ has become up and here’s those two words, no effect unto you. Whosoever of you are justified by the law, you’re falling from grace. See, if you’re trying to save yourself by the law, by your good deeds, then you have rejected salvation by grace. You wanna get salvation by earning it, by your works. And God says, you can’t have it.

He says, Christ has become of no effect unto you. In the words of if it’s no effect, no salvation. You can know the right language. You can go to the right church. You can hear the right things. But personally, nobody can do this for you. Only you can trust Christ as Savior for you. And if you’d never do that, you will not be saved. You will not go to heaven when you die. Now, in Titus 3.5, it simply makes a statement.

He says, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, not by works of righteousness, which we have done. So nobody was ever saved or ever will be saved by their works. So you can’t say, I’m trusting Christ, but I’m going to do this other just in case. Well, your just in case just cost you. Then this doesn’t count. You either have to depend upon him and him alone as you’re only hope to get them or you are not trusting him.

You’re not totally leaning and relying upon him as your Savior. You believe somehow that you have to live a certain way and perform in order to help save you or to help keep you saved or to prove that you’re saved and all that stuff. You don’t get it. Church is a full of people who don’t get it. In Romans chapter 4 and verse 4 and 5. Two of my favorite verses in the Bible is Ephesians 2, 8, and 9.

Quote it with you, “…For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.” It’s a gift of God, it’s not of works. And people can’t believe that it could be so simple. Or look, number three in your notes. Eternal security does not mean that knowing for sure that you are saved forever should be a license to sin, but rather grant you liberty to serve Christ.

A lot of people think, well, if you believe in that, and they call it that, hey, that damn the ball doctrine, then that means you just got a license to go out here and live like the devil and still go to heaven when you die. In other words, think that you don’t deserve to go now. If in other words, if that’s just a teaching that was damn your soul to hell and you believe that, you just giving people a license to go out here and sin and then think that you’re going to go to heaven whenever they die.

Well, if they did, would that be grace? You’re saved by what? And people don’t believe that you ought to be able to go to heaven and believe something like that. And that’s too easy. That’s too simple. It’s got to be complicated. Do I advocate Christians living in sin? Anybody who listens to me knows that’s not true. I want you to live as godly as you can every day of your life, all of your life, but not to get to heaven.

Because if you are dependent upon that to get you to heaven, as I’ve said before, you’re lost as a hound dog in the end of a soup bone. You don’t get it. I should serve the Lord. I should live right because I’m going to heaven, because I am God’s child, but not to be a child of God. I want you to turn in your Bible to Romans, chapter 6. I want you to see this verse. Romans and chapter 6.

The Bible tells us that God’s grace is greater than our sin. Look at very first of all in Romans 5 and verse 20. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, graced it much more abound. Have you ever heard of a song like that? Grace greater than our sin? You see, there are people who believe you can lose your salvation because you’ve committed some sin. Well, aren’t you supposed to believe that God’s grace is greater than my sin?

So if grace is greater than any of my sins, what sin can condemn me to hell? They can’t. So the question comes, well, then shall I live in sin that grace may more abound? So we have more grace, commit more sins? No, look in chapter 6 and verse 1. What shall we say to? In other words, because what I’m saying is true, shall we continue in sin that grace me abound and the next words are God forbid. No. That’s not the will of God.

Just because I know I’m God’s child and know I have eternal life and know that I can’t go to hell in the future doesn’t mean that that’s a licensed permission from God to live like you please like it doesn’t matter. No. It is permission from God that now I can live for the Lord. wants me to voluntarily choose because I love him because of what he’s done for me, that I will serve him, that I will honor him. Not because I have to, but because I want to.

Nobody has tried to get me to serve God. Nobody is constantly every week trying to yank you. You know you really need to serve the Lord. You really need to do this and you need to go to church and you need to pray and you need to what, because I do it, because I want to. That’s better than doing because I have to. I can’t make you serve God. I can’t make you right with God. But if you love God, then you’ll want to do those things.

And you’ll love God when you really understand what He did for you. When you know He really paid for my sin, He really did give me turn on. He really will never cast me out. He’ll never lose me. He really did all that for me. Now I serve the Lord because knowing that I have eternal security brings such wonderful peace, enjoy and happiness that I know I’m going to heaven whenever I die. And because of that I want to serve the Lord.

Therefore it works that way. It’s not a license to sin. The Lord tells us in His Word, do not let your liberty become a stumbling block, but to use us as an occasion to serve the Lord, but not an occasion for the flesh,” says there in the book of Galatians. Is grace greater than our sin or is sin greater than grace? Grace is greater than our sin. And even though you do things wrong from this point on, God’s grace is greater than your sin and you’re saved by grace.

And love covers a multitude of sin, but he didn’t just cover it, he washed them all away. The next point I want you to see there in number four, eternal security does not mean that a Christian can live as he pleases and get away without chastisement. You cannot live like you want and expect everything to be okay and you to escape God’s chasing. Take your Bible looking Hebrews chapter 12. This is a very, very important verse that you need to see.

Hebrews chapter 12, you need to underline this verse in your Bible. As a child of God, you need to understand that though your heavenly Father loves you, you can’t live as you please and get away with it, but you can live as you please. You can live to please God and you can live not the please God and still be His child, but you’re going to suffer the consequences. If you’ll live the please God, God’s going to bless you.

It rewards you when you get to heaven and you’ll have an inner peace and joy, knowing that you’re obeying your heavenly Father. But if you choose not to obey God, yeah, you still is child and you’ll forfeit many of God’s blessings and life that he could have done for you. You’re going to forfeit a lot of rewards that you could have had. You could have been used by God, but you weren’t. You may be set on the shelf and not used, not fit for the master’s use.

And God says that he may do something else. He says many are sick and some are weak and some are dead. He’s taken home before their time. So you see, you can’t live as you please and get away with him. But God says be not deceived, He is not mocked. For whatsoever man soth that shall he also reap. And you can sow to the flesh, and you can sow to the Spirit. Means you can obey God and you don’t have to obey God.

But if you don’t obey God, God says because you are His child, He will chase in you. Look at in verse 6, for whom the Lord loved it, He chaste in it. Now why would God chase in His children? Because He He loves them. And He says, and scurgeth every son, every son whom He receiveth. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior and you won’t serve God, you won’t obey Him. God your heavenly Father says, He is going to chasten you.

I know that if I don’t serve the Lord, I already know the consequences. I know He’s going to chasten me. And He may not tell me exactly how He’s going to do it. I can rest assured in the fact that he will. He may cut my life short or many things happen in my life that would not have happened had I served the Lord. So it’s better for a child of God to put God first and serve him because he is your heavenly father.

And when you do something wrong, you’re still his child, but he is going to chasten you. Look there in the last part of verse five, verse five. My son despised not thou the chasing of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. You see my son despised not the chasing of the Lord. That means that when you’re a child of God that means you still can do things wrong and you’re still his child. Because if you weren’t then God wouldn’t be chasing you as his child if you were no longer his child because you did something wrong and that’s the only way that shows you’re not his child.

No, that means God’s children still do a lot of things they shouldn’t do. We do a lot of things wrong. But when God has to chasteness, the Bible says, now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous. How many of y’all have ever enjoyed a good weapon? No chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but you’re hoping that the chastening you give to that little son or daughter will benefit them in their life. And so you inflict a little temporary pain, hoping that’s going to save them from a lot of hurts down the road.

That’s what the Lord does. Look at in verse 11. Now, now, present tense, now, no chasing for the present, seem it to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterwards, it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised there by them. In other words, God says, because you’re my child, you can’t live as you please and get away with it. I’m your father, I’m gonna have to chasing you. And because I chasing you means I love you. Otherwise God would just let you do whatever you want and get away with it, but he doesn’t.

He will give you personalized attention. Now he’s long suffering, but he’s a good father. Look at the next statement. In the little box, the absolute assurance of eternal salvation is based on the unfailing and sure promises of God. I want you to look at Romans chapter four very quickly. The book of Romans in chapter four. I refer to these verses quite often. And notice the contrast, as I stated here in the notes, in order to show the contrast between grace and works, Paul and Roman states.

Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. In other words, if you had to earn your salvation. Then God says that he would be in debt to you and going to heaven would be your reward. In the words you live in such a good way that God is in debt to let you go to heaven. And that’s why a lot of people think it is. But that means that you have to work.

It means that God’s in debt to you and it means that heaven would be a reward, something you earned and you had a right to it. God says that’s not the way it’s going to be. He says it’s by grace. But to him that work if not doesn’t work, but simply believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for what? God gives you his righteousness without your works. God doesn’t want you to try to earn it, work for it, buy it, pay for it, and heaven is not your reward for you living a good life.

You live good enough and I’ll let you go. That’s not what it is. People don’t understand the Bible. God says you cannot earn eternal life, you cannot work for it. The other verse I want you to see there in chapter four, look in verse 16. There’s three words in verse 16. Three words, faith, grace, and sure. But look in verse 16. Therefore it, being saved, have an eternal life, becoming God’s child. Go into heaven when you die. Eternal security, all of it.

It is a faith that’s yours. That’s yours, your faith. That it might be by grace, that’s God’s grace. You see, I’m supposed to take my faith, my confidence and put it into what he did for me, believe it, he did that for me. And God says he would save me by grace, unmerited. I don’t merit it, I don’t work for I don’t deserve it. He says, to the end or for this purpose, it might be what’s the word? That it might be sure to all the seed, everybody believes.

In other words, the only way you could be positive of going to heaven when you die is that it must simply be by faith, not your work, because if you have to do it by your works, well, you won’t know it until you die. And then that means you’ve got to live a certain way. And then you would never be sure. So God says it’s by faith. You trust him and he’ll give you eternal life by grace. Grace means you didn’t deserve it, but I’ll I’ll save you by grace.

For by grace are you saved that it might be sure, positive. You can know it. That’s simple. That’s awesome. And think of how many people don’t understand this. And you know it. You know you have eternal life. And yet there’s a lot of people who say, yes, they’re saved. They’re Christians. They trusted the Lord and don’t know where they go when they die. in the reason because, because they got some element of works involved in it. And they won’t say, oh yeah, I believe it’s salvation by works.

No, they won’t say this by works. But how could you lose it? Bad works. So then good works is keeping it, but bad works is taking it away from you. So they’re eventually going to heaven, depending upon their works. And that’s not salvation. And God will not say one person who trusts in their works. Or a combination of grace plus works. 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, 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. 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 Calbra 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 This is toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at CalvaryofTampa.org. We pray that you’ll enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

is the way that we look at life supposed to be divided in between the sacred and the secular. If I live in this body, and though I got this body from my first birth, my body is not sinful. It had the sinful nature. But this body is the tool by which I live in this world. And the body is an instrument that has to be taken care of. This body needs a place to live. It needs food to eat.

There’s work that has to be done. And I’ll show you some of this in just a second. I want you to understand that we are to esteem others better than ourselves. But in doing so, it does not mean that they are better. It’s only that you esteem them better. Meekness means that I am not putting myself up over somebody else. Now let me give you a good thing to think about. Satan is the God of the world and you and I have been born into this world have his nature, the sinful nature because of the seed that was planted in Adam and Eve on down the line.

If Adam received a nature, a rebellious nature because of the sin and we are born with that sinful nature. We are born then with a sinful nature of a God. Which one? Satan. So we have a nature just like a God. Satan himself. During our lifetime. Do you realize how many times you are going to play God? Have you ever had somebody tell you don’t try to play God in my life. Who do you think you are? God? And yet when you stop and think of it, what are the characteristics of this God?

And you list the qualities that are listed in the book of Galatians in chapter 5, the works of the flesh, that is a description of the nature of Satan, of the lion, the anger, the bitterness, the hatred, the jealousy, all these things. And Satan wants to be done. Well, what do you think you want to be? You want to be like God. You want to call the shots. You and I want to be number one. We want to decide what we do, where we go, and whether it’s right or wrong, everything.

We want to be our own judge. We don’t want to go through life having somebody else tell us what we can it cannot do, can cannot go. What’s right, what’s wrong? You got two little kids, you watch them as they grow up and as they get a little bit older they’ll begin to challenge all authority. But as you get older you begin to challenge and you play, you play God. Some of you sitting right here and they, at time, will demonstrate, I want to be God.

And we won’t say the words, but we do the actions. And we judge as though we were God and we’re right. We’re right and everybody else is wrong. You never thought that, huh? And we also will do things to another person. We want sometimes people to serve us. Christ says he came into the world not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for everybody. We have all the major problems in society because we are playing God.

And we want to demonstrate that we are right and therefore we are going to impose our will upon everybody else. This is why people run for public office. It’s not just they just want to serve, they want to impose their will. Why do you think they want certain people to be on the Supreme Court? Because they know that that man, if he thinks just like they do, that man can impose his will on those who don’t believe him. True?

We want to make somebody else do what we want them to do. And our laws is one way of doing that. If I want your land and you won’t give it to me, we can go and make some laws and that law might be written up. I get enough people to agree with it. Well, we can take your land in the domain and take it away from you. And there’s people that do it all the time because of the desires that we have.

So here you are as a Christian. Do you drag your place to church and do you go into the world and you’ve got to drag your new birth with the out into the world because there the flesh rules but in church the spirit rules or is a Christian to let the spirit rule anywhere in the world. Now Wednesday night I preached to a sermon. Well I don’t know if you’d call it preachers sermon but it was along the lines of who is God?

Where is God? And when I say, where is God? And we had fun with it. Some says He’s up there. And some says, He might be over there and over there. But if I am with God and you are with God and we can walk with God, God is here. I don’t have to worry about Him then. There, there, there, there, there. In the book of Acts, chapter 7, He says, in Him in God, we all move and live and have our So if God is all and all is the world inside of God, then He is a spirit.

And we are in God. Where are we talking about where God is? Will He hold me in heaven? Okay, that’s a place. But the Bible says that we can walk and talk with God. And if that is true, I would put somebody the other day. I’ll say this now. I’m sitting right here. Plus is not not too close there. That’s as God’s sitting right there. So that everywhere you go You always figure I am in the presence of God Whenever you leave church, this is a sacred holy place.

So we go out those doors now. We’re entering into the world and God’s still in here Or does God go with us? low I am with you even until the End of the age in the words on with you everywhere you go Where can I go? David says, where can I go that God is not? If I go into heaven, He is there. Even if I went down to hell, He is there. Where can you hide from God? You can’t.

So I believe that as a Christian, I am not fighting two battles, one in the church, doing these spiritual things, and then out there in the world, to those things. There’s only one battle. I am to do as right in the church as I am outside the church. It’s not two different things. To me my whole life is a sacred thing. When I am at home, I am in the presence of God because God is with me. Not only in me, he is with me.

I just can’t see him. Sometimes I say, God, let me just see you just for a second and I’m like, yeah, better not. Scream it again. And he says, don’t make him see the face of God live. Well, I’m not ready to go yet. I’ll just take it to work. You’re here. Because he says he is and to believe that so that as I live my life, God is with me all the time in every situation. Whenever you get up in the morning and you hit that alarm clock, is God with you when you wake up in the morning?

Yeah. And if you get in the car and you head down the road is God with you when you’re in that car. Do you think that that place at that moment in that car should be less of a holy place than the church? This church is no more holier than any other place in the whole world. He says, some say you must worship in this temple in Jerusalem, but I say unto you, you shall worship God in spirit and in truth.

In my spirit Alright. Alright. Alright. Wherever I am in my spirit, can I worship God there? I can worship God in my spirit. Anywhere in the world. That’s good news. I don’t have to worry about a place or a time. See, there was a certain place and a certain time in the Old Testament that God would meet with His people. Now God says we’re not governed by so-called holy days, special days. I believe all seven days should be holy days for God’s people.

I believe my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are the servilor, so it doesn’t matter what time of day it is. Anytime all those hours are sacred and any place. So anywhere, anytime that I’m in this life is to be a holy sacred time. And I’m the serve God as well. I’m not a dual individual in the sense that I am trying to fight two different wars, only fighting one. And the Bible says, he that is in me is greater than he that is in the world.

And it doesn’t matter if I’m in the church, at home, at work, whatever. sacred. Let’s say for example there’s two men. These two men own their own business. This man says this is a secular business. This man says his belongs to God. They vote to exactly the same work. The only difference is his belongs to God, his belongs to him. I have a home, but in my mind I gave that home to God, or I should say God gave it to me, to manage for him, but he owns my home.

He’s free to do whatever he wants. I’m just a steward of what he give to me. This man has a business. If this man would look at it, say, my business belongs to God, then his business becomes a ministry, and his business becomes a sacred thing. His ministry and his business are the same. Even though maybe all he’s doing is making something and serving somebody, and he’s making some profit off of it, but this belongs to God. Can a man give God his business?

Can a man dedicate his home to God? Yes. Now, if this is true, and I believe it is, soul-winning is more important than washing dishes. But washing dishes in God’s eye is acceptable. There are some things that are more important than other things, but there’s a multitude of things that are important and acceptable to God. Remember he makes his statement in the book of Romans in chapter 12 verse 2. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove or discover where they’re good, acceptable, perfect, will of God.

So things are good and there’s things that are acceptable to God. Now I want you to take your Bible and turn over there to the book of Colossians, the book of Colossians, and chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. Whenever the Lord says in Matthew chapter 11, he says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy latent. When do you think God wants you to come? Down by the riverside. Well, women, I’m living now and I’m not at the riverside.

So I am to come to him with my heavy burden now. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Went down by the riverside or now. Now. So there’s things that God says that don’t always happen in church, but our life is to be a holy life. whether in church, at home, at work, wherever. In Colossians and Chapter Three, look in verse 16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Now that will really set your attitude. Good music, right words, honors the Lord, and an agreement with scripture, doctrine correct. That’s why he says you’ve got to know the word of God richly in all wisdom. Then in verse 17, now get verse 17, and whatsoever ye do in word or deed in the church service. Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, given thanks to God and the Father by Him in the church?

Did I add anything in there? Is it, you think, fitting to stay there? I don’t. Get what he says. What server you do in word or deed? It means my life. It’s not talking about what you do inside the four walls of a church. Did you know that in Bible time, it wasn’t so much as the four walls of any church? It was a body of believers and they could meet in this house, so they met in that house.

They met in that house. They didn’t even have church property where they had a plate like we do today. They were people meeting in different people’s homes. And so the people were to come to church together, the Bible speaks about coming together, coming together. So you’re strong enough to live your Christian faith. And it’s not a separate thing that here together, where with God’s people and so here we’re holy, that we worship God this morning. But when we live here, it doesn’t, no, it’s not the same.

It’s the same. There’s not to be two of you’s. What you are here is where you’re supposed to be at home, where you’re supposed to be at work and everything else. It’s one life. Get it where else he says. In verse 17, what so ever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus given thanks to God and the Father by him. A poet’s got a business out there. They sell food, people come in there and they serve them and they go and they sit down and they eat and so forth.

Did you know that that is a ministry? What’s whoever you do in word or deed? Wherever you go to work, you got a ministry there. That is just as safe to you as my work inside this church is. My work may be, in a sense, a little bit more important only because I’m teaching what the Word of God said, but your work is acceptable to God. That is acceptable. That is the will of God. And we are to work in our society, in our community, and we have to maybe paint a house, we may have to chop wood, we may have to, and that is not a waste of time.

You don’t have to have that built in frustration that I’m wasted all this time, no, because if that is acceptable to God, you don’t have to worry about it. It is, do you do what you do as unto God? That what’s over your hands find that they’re doing what you’re doing with all of your might? Because this is the will of God. This is acceptable to God. And you’ll notice that none of this is talking about in the church.

This is talking about your life. Get what he says here. And look in verse 18, wives, submit yourselves onto your own husbands as long as it’s inside the church walls. Or do you think it’s talking about at home? Think it’s talking about wherever you work. Whatever you do. This is from outside. This is from your life. Or do you think it means only in here we put on our show. We put on our nice Christian little face and we come in smiling and everything is wonderful and we’re enjoying and we’re happy.

So when you leave, you can be as dirty and mean as cantankerous as, no, no, whenever you’re at home Why says something? Do you realize at this moment at this moment of frustration? God standing right there And I want you to always Visually in your mind you pictured the Lord stand right there looking at you and the Lord said what do you fix in the same? What are you fixing to do? And you’re standing here and you see God in your mind’s eye.

You know God is right here If you really could live your life Believing that you are in the presence of God right now. He’s right there But here’s a lot of things you’re not gonna say and do if you really believe that But outside out of mind you don’t even see God And you’ll say things that you ought not say and be mean and unkind and ugly and rude and all the rest of it Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.

That’s because you’re not living in the presence of God. You’re not living like you’re in the presence of God. Just because you can’t see him, you think the presence of God is when you get there. God is here. He is right here, right now, right beside you. He’s in you, he’s around you, he’s over you, he’s under you, he’s all around you. So look what he says in verse 19, Husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them.

Now, why did he have to say that? Because it’s so easy to be bitter at him. Why? Because a woman doesn’t always bow and scrape to the husband. She may disagree at times. And when she does, that is a challenge to your manhood, to your authority. And I’m going to set things in order here, lady. Now, I got news for you. A woman is like a rattlesnake. They call up and buddy, the fangs sit deep and the poison is strong and you won’t last long.

And they can make you pay it a thousand ways. Number 20, children, children obey your parents at church. You think this This is talking about at home too. It doesn’t matter where you are. It’s the Christian life. And I’m not limited to the four walls one way holy. And then when I go outside of the church and go on the job, do you have a right to be made an untime on your job that you don’t think you would do that in church?

Would you treat your wife one way at church and you treat her another way at home? You’re a hypocrite. Did you hear what I just said? You’re a hypocrite. If you treat her nice and fun of people and you treat her like dirt behind her, but you’re a hypocrite. Where do you think Christianity starts? Just when the Holy Holy gets to see you? No, it’s wherever you are. If nobody else is around and you’re mean and ugly and untied, wait a minute.

That’s not right. You’re not living in the presence of God. You’re not doing right. He says in verse 21, fathers provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. I have done that a multitude of times because sometimes I wouldn’t discipline my kids until they have made me angry. They made me angry. And then when I did, then I overcorrected them. Was I right or wrong? That’s wrong. Why? Because I wasn’t disciplined enough. And what I used to do when they were small, that’s enough.

And when they didn’t obey, yes, I glistered them to the bottom. I never spanked them for mistakes. I always spanked them for rebellion. They didn’t obey me. And after a while, I could just look at them and they don’t they. But then when they got a little bit older, I became a little bit more lax a day as it go. That’s the 10th time I’ve told you. One more time. And they know by how you express it in your voice and how many times you told them you trained them to rebel.

And bet you get mad at them because they made you mad because you’re the one that’s undisciplined and you don’t want to face the issue. No. He says, look in verse 22, servants. Now you think he’s just talking about just in church? Now this is out on the job. Servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh. They had slaves back in those days. And he says, not with eye service as men pleasures, but in singleness of heart, hearing God.

In other words, even your job, on your job out there, you do your job as unto God. And then he makes sustain in verse 23. And whatsoever you do. And talk about just a limited place on a Sunday morning, we do this and we act holy. But once you leave church, it doesn’t really matter. Do you think it matters whenever you’re watching TV at home what you watch? Music you listen to would you listen to watch if you knew and picture in your mind that God is it right here What we’re gonna watch this tonight, okay God?

But if you don’t see him and you don’t picture him and you don’t really think about spiritual things You’d be surprised what you’ll do you see this is a restraint upon your life to control you And we all need to be controlled. You’ll either be led by the Lord or driven by the devil. And so he says, and what server you do do it hardly as to the Lord, not on the men. Get in verse 24, knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ.

That mother who is at home with her children is doing the Lord’s work. And she’s going to be rewarded because God’s watching. That person who’s at that job and there’s putting corn in this plate and then I had a little macaroni and cheese in that plate and then giving you a coffee here. That woman is doing that serving again. If she’s doing it for the Lord she’s getting rewarded for that. That’s the Lord’s work. That mother that’s at home and sleeping the floor and keeping that place clean doing all that.

That’s a holy sacred job. Your ministry is a ministry of God and it’s just as important as my ministry here at the church. You have to believe that or you will take it is something I’m wasting my time. This is not important and you become so loaded down with pressures that you don’t have to be. How heavy is that glass? How long do you want to carry a burden? Or to see that wherever you are, God’s in that situation too.

And God’s watching this trial and this tribulation and that person, and he said this to you and all that, well God knows all of that. Cast all your cares upon him only when your church though, because it only counts at church. No, it doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter where you are. And he says this in that part, knowing that off the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance. For in get this, you serve the Lord.

It doesn’t matter if it’s the wife, the husband, the kids, the fathers, the husband, it doesn’t matter. You’re all serving to learn. And there’s a reward that God’s going to get to you because of it. Look up here. This hand represents you and me and the wall of represents sin. We all have sin on us. God loves us. hates our sin. And for you and I to pay for this sin is eternal separation from the Lord in a place called hell.

But God loves us, doesn’t want us to go to heaven. Wants us to go to heaven. To go to heaven we have to be perfect because righteous is God and none of us are perfect. None of us are righteous. We’re all sinners. We can’t get into heaven because we got sin. So how do I get rid of it? God says the payment for sin is death. We have to die. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the place.

He came to the world because he doesn’t want us to pay for our sins. If it was just going to church, he would give you one to church. If it would just be nice to somebody, well, he wouldn’t care if you just nice to somebody, but he says the payment for sins, death and hell. Now that’s a different story. He doesn’t want you to go to hell. So he took your sins and mine, paid for them across, came back from the dead, said it will believe that he did it for us.

He’d put the payment card count and we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for us. We’re all sinners, but God loves us. Paid for it will give you eternal life. And you get to go to heaven on what it did for you. Let’s pray, Shout. Every head, bottom, every eye, close, and no one looking around. If you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you will not go to heaven. You’re not God’s child.

But I urge you right now to do just that. Trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. And if you will trust Him, depending upon Him to take you to heaven, to heaven, God will give eternal life. You don’t have to join this church, you don’t have to give any money, you just need to trust the Lord. So right now in the quietness of this moment, is there anyone else that says, yes, I’ll trust Christ as my Savior and I want to be certain of going to heaven when I die?

I believe He died for me, paid for my sins, and I’ll trust Him to take me to heaven when I die. Is there anyone all before we close? Our Father, we do thank You so much for all You’ve down for us. Help us Lord remember that according to your word, your with us everywhere we go. Our whole lives are to be a sacred life, a holy life, a dedicated life. And that part of the work that we do to live in this world is still a sacred life.

And follow the way after blessings upon us and help us to live as though we’re walking and talking in the the President of God. 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. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryuptampa.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. 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 calbryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I want you to take your Bible and turn over there to the Book of Matthew, the Book of Matthew. And chapter 5 Matthew chapter 5 I have a couple things I just wanted to share with you from there but how many of you remember an old Negro spiritual? Go something like I’m gonna lay down my burdens where? Down by the riverside and generally it means that one of these days we’re gonna come to the river and And this river speaks of crossing over into Jordan or heaven, you know.

So one day we’re gonna come to the river and I’m gonna lay down my burdens down by the riverside. It’s a good song. But what do I do in the meantime? How many of you want to wait until you get there to lay down your burden? There’s a lot of burdens that we have to bear. I asked somebody this not long ago.

I asked you how much does that water wait? Well, it all depends on how long you want to hold it. You see, that water is not very heavy at all. I can hold it out there, it’s arms straight up. It is not very heavy at all. But I assure you, the longer I carry that weight, After a while and it won’t be long, I won’t be able to hold it out there at all because it’s gonna become such a heavy burden.

So you are built to carry a little bit of burdens. We all have them. We got concerns and there’s things that we have to do and they weigh up on our mind. But if you don’t learn how to either solve the problem quickly or cast it upon the Lord, the burden gets heavier and heavier. The same burden that wasn’t heavy at one time to get heavier as time goes on. I’ve had a lot of burdens that I’ve carried that I never had to carry.

Like one person says, don’t tell me worry and doesn’t help. 90% of the things I worry about never happen. So see there? Worry and does pay off. I don’t think that’s the way you’re supposed to look at it. But here in the book of Matthew, and look in verse 3 of Matthew chapter 5, Blessed are the poor in spirit. Now as you read down through these, you realize that the world looks at it just the opposite. Everything in here in the eyes of the world is opposite of this.

What Christ is saying here is totally contrary to the natural mind. We think instead of being poor the key is to be what? Rich. Instead of being weak we could all be strong. And that’s what the word mean. Meat is not actually weakness. It’s just a surrender of your rights. You know where you have people always fighting for their rights. Well, So meekness is strength, but it’s subdued and it’s controlled. You can have a horse that’s a meek horse that’s got the power.

It’s just subdued, surrendered. And that’s what God wants us. The Bible talks about Moses was a meek man. It doesn’t mean he was a weak man. And he also says up here in verse 4, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. We would say blessed are those that are happy. See just the opposite because that’s not what we want. Bless it or the meat. Well, I don’t want to be me. I want to be a strong individual dominating dictatorial, you know, controlling.

Well, that’s just the opposite of what God says. And everything is a blessing or they that do hungry. Well, wait a minute. I said blessed are those that are full. After church today chances are somebody’s gonna go and get something to eat. And don’t it feel better to be full than hungry? Then why is it blessed to be hungry? See, every one of these is just the opposite, but that’s the paradox in the Christian life. opposite in order to really be happy.

A man that will lose his life for Christ’s sake will find his life. And most people are trying to find themselves, like I told you before about the hippie, that had real long hair. And it was just kind of lost, couldn’t find himself. He got a haircut and there he was. So there’s people that really mess up. But he makes a statement down through here, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the pure in heart, Bless of the peacemakers and those that are persecuted will see we believe just the opposite in life because who doesn’t want to be happy?

Because all these other things are nothing more than burdens. These are burdens. Because anytime that you’re poor, you have burdens to bear. You’re always trying to figure out what to do financially. Have health problems, you’re trying to figure out what to do with that. And burdens add up. And these burdens that are not cast up on the Lord are figured out how to solve the problem really can weigh upon your mind. I had a problem that I had to deal with years ago.

And maybe some of you have had the same problem, but let me just kind of run it by you. I trusted Christ as my savior. I have eternal life. I’m going to heaven when I die. Betty’s dad spent a lot of hours talking to me about why I needed to go to church. I didn’t go before. Why do I gotta go now? How do you wanna go? He spent hours trying to tell me why I should support the Lord’s Word.

Well, I didn’t before. Why should I do it now? And I never did much serious praying. I’d talk to the Lord. Could I warm them to know? But now he’s trying to tell me there’s a certain way to pray. but now he’s trying to tell me there’s a certain way to pray. I never prayed in Jesus name. Now he says you gotta, anything else in his name? It’s not in your name, not for your honor, not anybody else’s. You ask it in his name.

He’s the one that signs the check. So it’s got to be in his check. His name’s got to be on the check. And so I had to learn that. But one of the problems is I was in church on Sunday morning and Sunday night. He finally got me going on Wednesday night. So I went Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. Never about it. And the whole time I’m doing this right deal, you know, this is right, I did that.

I felt like I was dragging, And I didn’t understand too much about it. My old sinful nature with me, because they didn’t want to go. So every time I wanted to go to church, I had to drag my old flesh birth with me. And he was fighting and scratching and screaming and kicking, he didn’t want to go. So I had to battle with him every time. Sunday morning, Sunday night, I went night, I had to kick him in the rear, make him go, because I didn’t know how I can go without him, because he was inside of me.

So I wanted to go, that was my new birth, And he didn’t want to go. That was my over. So I felt like I’m dragging the flesh with me. And then when I get to church, I got to make him sit there and behave. Have you ever seen a little bratty kid in church? Don’t know how to sit still, got worms in the pants, and you ant, and you figure like, I’m fixing to knock his kid. Remember when time this guy was on an airplane?

Jack Eil. He said he got on the plane, he was tired and where he had had a whole week of meetings, and he was flying back to his hometown up there in Chicago. Then he got on the plane and there was his mother and she had a little boy. And the mother could not discipline this little boy. This little boy was hollering and crying and screaming and doing everything. And it was sitting right across from Jack Howe. He said, and the mother just try and be quiet, be quiet.

She’s long. Nothing worked. And finally the kid got to where he would look at it. Jack Heil’s and Jack Heil’s looked over at him. And the kid was looking at him and he was making all kind of noises. It’s on it. Sorry about that. It’s time to wake up. It’s time to wake up because you’re asleep. He looked over at this little boy and he went, it’s only here. And the little boy, and he said back and he watched Jack Howles, the rest of the trip, Nipticadazzo.

That little boy says no man ever spoke like this man before. This man speaketh with a torote. This little kid was scared to death. And it only took one word, and it wasn’t even a word. It was a big, heavy grunt filled with threats. When you come to church, say you brought your old nature with you. How many of you left your old nature at home? Say that, you brought it with you. And so while you’re here, you’re having the deal many times with that old central nature of yours.

And he doesn’t want to listen. He cares not about the Bible. He doesn’t want to grow spiritually. He’s against everything that you’re hearing, and it’s sitting right there with you. So sometimes while you’re trying to listen, you’re battling other things, and he’s always trying to get your mind off of what the preacher said and onto something else. else and your mind begins to drift and about 15 minutes later come back. What was he talking? No, he never said anything I get anything out of and you’re in another world.

You’re thinking about what you did yesterday, what you’re going to do tomorrow. If you left something on the stove cooking, did you ever get the food out of the oven or what did you be surprised it’s going in your mind? Well, see, you got a little brat that you brought the church with you this morning. Well, see, I’m dragging this old nature with me and I’ve got to try to make them sit there and behave so I can listen and learn something.

But then after church, whenever you go out into the world and I had to work at Benson Bakery and I was a bread romping. I got up early in the morning, 3 o’clock in the morning, so I hated it, but I did it. It was a job, you know, you’ve got a nasty habit of eating, you just do those things. And then you do it six days a week. You’re running a bread drive. And always another pressure in the gun, I’ve got to get so many stops, I’ve got to go in there and change the food out and all this stuff and dig up this stuff.

And then when you get back, you hope you had enough money to pay for what you put out. If you didn’t, you could buy the pay. So there’s a lot of pressure. But then I had to, felt like I’m dragging my new birth with my old birth. Because see, that’s into the world. And now my new birth is fighting, scratching, screaming, those don’t want to go. Because many times when I would be on the job, I thought, this is a total waste of time.

And I had built in frustration for the simple fact that I saw this working regular job doing those things as a waste of my valuable time. I would rather, at the time, be studying the Bible, witnessing to somebody, you know, doing spiritual things. I am doing carnal things, fleshly things. This deals with my first birth and the other is my second birth. And so I feel like anytime I’m doing that, which relates to my first birth, I’m forcing and dragging my old nature with me and he’s got to sit there and endure while I’m doing all this other stuff.

I got the time to get out of all that and make him happy. And you said, well, I never thought about myself like that. I did because it was a built-in frustration with me. I kept thinking about even when I was sitting in Bible school, all the hours that I sat there and going to work late at night. I worked the night shift. And I got about two and a half hours of sleep a night for two years. That was my average.

And it was rough. And this is what I got so discouraged, so filled with despair, so frustrated, because I didn’t know how to get a balance between the two. I loved it when I was at church, and I loved it when I was studying the Bible in the college class. Now I’ve got to go to work. Now I’ve got to go out there in the world. And I’ve got to drag this one. And there’s got to be something better until I begin to understand that things are not the way I appeared them to be.

I had a wrong perspective, I believe. And so as you begin to read the Bible and study it, you find out, did Jesus want He was here? Did He spend all of His life in the synagogue? No. He was only in the synagogue maybe once a week on a Saturday. Where Jesus was out there in this world was that secular without God and only when he was in the synagogue he was doing sacred things, holy things. His whole life was not divided into the sacred and the secular.

His whole life was sacred. And when he walked down the dusty trail toward Jericho, that was a sacred trail to him. Everything he did was sacred. It was holy on the God. When he sent in the house with those centers and got ridiculed for it. That was still a sacred moment to him. He wasn’t looked upon in his own mind, because as I read the scripture, this was, I was in the world. And this was the secular world. This is where you’re without God.

No, everywhere he went, it was holy to him because he was about the Lord’s business. And everything he said, thought, everything he did, was sacred. It was holy. And I begin to re-look at this and you find that the Apostle Paul, when he didn’t have the needs to take care of him financially, the Bible says that some failed to support And as he says in Philippa, he says, your need has flourished again. And he said for which he was thankful.

But he made tents on the side. That means the apostle Paul spent time making tents and selling them. And that’s how he made money. That’s how he supported himself. the way that we look at life supposed to be divided between the sacred and the secular. If I live in this body and though I got this body from my first birth my body is not sinful it had the sinful nature but this body is the tool by which I live in this world and the body is a instrument that has to be taken care of.

This body needs a place to live. It needs food to eat. There’s work that has to be done and I’ll show you some of this in just a second but I want you to understand that we are to esteem others better than ourselves. But in doing so it does not mean that they are better. It’s only that you esteem them better. Meekness means that I am not putting myself up over somebody else. Now let me give you a good thing to think about.

If Satan is the God of the world and you and I have been born into this world have his nature, the sinful nature because of the seed that was planted in Adam and Eve on down the line. If Adam received a nature, a rebellious nature because of the sin and we are born with that sinful nature, we are born then with a sinful nature of a God. Which one? Satan. So we have a nature just like a God. Satan himself.

During our lifetime, do you realize how many times you are going to play God? Have you ever had somebody tell you don’t try to play God in my life? Who do you think you are God and yet when you stop and think of it what are the characteristics of this God and you list the qualities that are listed in the book of Galatians in chapter 5 the works of the flesh that is a description of the nature of Satan of the lion the anger the bitterness the hatred the jealousy, all these things.

And Satan wants to be God. Well, what do you think you want to be? You want to be like God. You want to call the shots. You and I want to be number one. We want to decide what we do, where we go, and whether it’s right or wrong, everything. We want to be our own judge. We don’t want to go through life having somebody else tell us what we can Kenny cannot do, Kenny cannot go. What’s right, what’s wrong?

You got two little kids, you watch them as they grow up. And as they get a little bit older, they’ll begin to challenge all authority. But as you get older, you begin to challenge and you play, you play God. Some of you sitting right here and they, at times, will demonstrate, I want to be God. And we won’t say the words, but we do the actions. And we judge as though we were God and we’re right. We’re right and everybody else is wrong.

You ever taught that, huh? And we also will do things to another person. We want sometimes people to serve us. Christ says He came into the world not to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for everybody. We have all the major problems in society because we are playing God. And we want to demonstrate that we are right and therefore we are going to impose our will upon everybody else. This is why people run for public office.

It’s not just they just want to serve, they want to impose their will. Why do you think they want certain people to be on the Supreme Court? Because they know that that man, if he thinks just like they do, that man can impose his will on those who don’t believe him. truth, we want to make somebody else do what we want them to do. And our laws is one way of doing that. If I want your land and you won’t give it to me, we can go and make some laws and that law might be written up by getting up people to agree with it, well we can take your land, imminent domain and take it away from you.

And there’s people that do it all the time because of the desires that we have. So here you are as a Christian. Do you drag your place to church and do you go and do the world and you’ve got to drag your new birth with you out into the world because there the flesh rules, but in church the spirit rules. Or is a Christian to let the spirit rule anywhere in the world. Now Wednesday night I preached a sermon.

Well I don’t know if you’d call it a pre-centre sermon, but it was along the lines of who is God? Where is God? And when I say where is God? And we had fun with it. Some says he’s up there. And some says he might be over there. And over there. But if I am with God and you are with God, and we can walk with God, God is here. I don’t have to worry about him then. There, there, there, there, there.

In the book of Acts, chapter 7, he says, in him, in God, we all move and live and have our be. So if God is all and all, is the world inside of God, then he is a spirit. And we are in God. Where are we talking about where God is? Will he hold me in heaven? Okay, that’s a place. But the Bible says that we can walk and talk with God. And if that is true, I would put somebody the other day.

I’ll say this now, I’m sitting right here. I’ll say, not too close here. I’ll say God’s sitting right there. So that everywhere you go, you always figure I am in the presence of God. Whenever you leave church, this is a sacred holy place. So we go out those doors. Now we’re entering into the world. And God’s still in here. Or does God go with us? Lord, I am with you even until the end of the age. In other words, I’m with you everywhere you go.

Where can I go? David says, where can I go that God is not? If I go into heaven, He is there. Even if I went out of hell, He is there. Where can you hide from God? You can’t. So I believe that as a Christian, I am not fighting two battles, one in the church. Don’t these spiritual things and then out there in the world doing those things There’s only one battle. I Am to do as right in the church as I am outside the church It’s not two different things To me my whole life is a sacred thing When I am at home, I am in the presence of God because God is with me Not only in me.

He is with me. I I just can’t see him. Sometimes I say, God, let me just see, just for a second. And I’m like, yeah, better not. Just give me the death. And he says, no making see the face of God and live. Well, I’m not ready to go yet. I’ll just take it to work. You’re here. Because he says he is. And to believe that. So that as I live my life, God is with me all the time.

And every situation, whenever you get up in the morning and you hit that alarm clock. Is God with you when you wake up in the morning? Yeah. And if you get in the car and you head down the road, is God with you when you’re in that car? Do you think that that place at that moment in that car should be less of a holy place than the church? This church is no more holier than any other place in the whole world.

He says, some say you must worship in this temple in Jerusalem, But I say unto you, you shall worship God in spirit and in truth, in my spirit, wherever I am, in my spirit, can I worship God there? I can worship God in my spirit, anywhere in the world. That’s good news. I don’t have to worry about a place or time. See, there was a certain place and a certain time in the Old Testament that God would meet with His people.

Now God says we’re not governed by, so-called, holy days, special days. I believe all seven days should be holy days for God’s people. I believe my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are the servilor, so it doesn’t matter what time of day it is. it is. Any time all those hours are sacred and any place. So anywhere, anytime that I’m in this life is to be a holy sacred time. And I’m the serve God as well.

I’m not a dual individual in the sense that I am trying to fight two different wars, only fighting one. And the Bible says, he that is in me is greater than he that is in the world. And it doesn’t matter if I’m in the church at home, at work, whatever. That’s sacred. Let’s say for example, there’s two men. These two men own their own business. This man says this is a secular business. This man says, his belongs to God.

They both do exactly the same work. The only difference is, his belongs to God, his belongs to him. I have a home, but in my mind, I gave that home to God, or I should say, God gave it to me, to manage for him, but he owns my home. He’s figuring it out, whatever you want. I’m just a steward of what He gives to me. This man has a business. If this man would look at it, say, my business belongs to God, then his business becomes a ministry, and his business becomes a sacred thing.

His ministry and his business are the same. Even though maybe all he’s doing is making something and serving somebody, He’s making some profit off of it, but this belongs to God. Can a man give God his business? Can a man dedicate his home to God? Yes. If this is true, and I believe it is, soul winning is more important than washing dishes. But washing dishes in God’s eyes is acceptable. There are some things that are more important than other things.

But there’s a multitude of things that are important and acceptable to God. Remembering makes this statement in the book of Romans in chapter 12 verse 2. Be not conformed to this world of being transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove or discover where they’re good, acceptable, perfect, will of God. Some things are good, and there’s things that are acceptable to God. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr.

Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. 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 homepage.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calbury 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 Vital Line and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound.

We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. 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 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.

But now, we also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, guilt, the communication out of you now. But what? What’s that? These are the, this is the old man. See over there in the book of Ephesians it says, put off the old man. Well now we know what the old man is. It’s all these simple desires. In verse 9, lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the, there’s that word. You ought to underline it.

Old man. You see, I’m only 20 years old. You still got an old man. And in verse 10, and have put on the new man, put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Now, this is a good thing to know what to do, what not to do. So if somebody says, you know, the Bible doesn’t tell us as Christians, there’s, you know, this negative thing about there’s thing we can’t do.

Yes, it is. It’s in the Bible. There’s positive and there’s negative things to do. There’s things not to do. God has a list of do’s and don’ts, like it or not. Now notice, I want you just to say a few things about a couple of other scriptures and then we’ll look at some other ones, but you don’t have to look at these. In the book of Genesis in chapter 5, it says, and this is the book of the generation of Adam in the day that God made him and how that he lived so many years and he had the son and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but after about 950 years, what happened to him?

He what? He died. And then he talks about another one who lived so long and he died. Another one so long and he died and he lived so long and he died. You know what was interesting about the book of the generation of Adam? The answer is check that. They all died. Now there was one that didn’t die and that was Enoch. But you know who outlived Methosala? Methosala lived nine hundred and high long, sixty nine years? That’s a long time to live Enoch.

You know who outlived him? His daddy? His daddy didn’t die. I didn’t make it up. That’s in the Bible. But anyway, but they died, but that’s the first birth. When you go to the book of Matthew in chapter 1, so then this is the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, and then it lists the genealogies there. And as you go down through all these 14 generations, there’s no deaths recorded. Why aren’t there any deaths recorded? this is the book of life.

See whenever you’re in the book of living, you’re going to die. He says, Rejoice that your name is in the book of life. In the book of life, there’s no death. So that’s why one day at the Great White Throne Judgment, the books will be open. But those who did not have their names written in the book of life were cast into the lake of fire. That’s That’s why it’s so important for us to realize it. As a child of God, we know that we will never die.

You’ll never be separated from God. But the first birth will be. And that’s why if you’re born once, you’ll die twice. But if you’re born twice, you’ll only die one time. Now take your Bible and turn to John chapter three. John in chapter three. Remember this. Nobody can walk through life holding your hands all the days of your life. life. You have to learn how to stand on your own. You need to learn how to walk with the Lord and you need to learn how to deal with your sinful nature.

How to cope with it. And this is the book and it’ll help you. Because everybody has the same problem. Every Christian’s got the same thing to deal with. And we are all like passion. We desire the same thing. Old sinful nature. It’s a battle unto the day you die. But in John chapter three, you’ll notice there in verse three. Jesus answered and said unto him, Nicodemus, very, very truthfully, truthfully. I say unto thee, except the man be born again.

he cannot see the kingdom of God. So you can’t see it. And down there in verse 5, Jesus answered very, very I say unto you, except the man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. So you can’t see it. You can’t enter it unless you’re born of God. So the Bible teaches that a man must be born of God. So if we’re talking about an old man, and that’s when you got when you trusted the Lord, and then you talk about a new man, well, when was he born?

When was this new man born? He had to have a birth? Well that’s interesting because when you trusted Christ as your Savior you got a new birth. That’s when the new one was born. But notice what he says in verse 6, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. That’s the first birth. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. That’s the second birth. So the first birth is flesh and you can be born again and again and again and again and again.

But if it’s a flesh birth it doesn’t do you any good because every flesh birth is a sinful birth born with a sinful nature. Would it be great if we could be born the second time without a sinful nature? That’s what the second birth is, being born of God from above without a sinful nature. You see, if I could have a bird without a sinful nature, then I wouldn’t desire sin. I wouldn’t do wrong. I I wouldn’t never die.

Wouldn’t that be great? Well, that’s what happened. But you’re still living inside of a body that has an old man living here, and he doesn’t want to share the body with a new man. So guess what they do? They fight all the time. And that’s the struggle that you have in the Christian life. So in verse 17 it says, Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. So you must be born again. The only way you can get this new man is to have a new birth and the new birth is by trusting Christ as your Savior.

Now look over there in the book of Romans in chapter 9. The book of Romans in chapter 9. Many people believe that there is the Fatherhood of God and that means that God is the father of everybody. So that means if God is the father of everybody, then we are the brotherhood of man and we’re all brothers. Well, it all depends on which family you’re talking about. God is the Creator. He’s not your father until you’re born into his family.

When you’re born into God’s family, then you becomeliam a child of God. But look what he says in verse 8 of chapter 9, that is, they which are the children of the flesh. These are not the children of what? They’re not the children of God. So you’re not a child of God unless you have been born into God’s family. Now this is where I like to use a simple illustration because I want you to have this so ingrained into your mind, you’ll never forget it and I don’t care what happens and where you go, you’ll always remember how to keep yourself strong in the Lord, how to deal with this old man, this arm right here.

This represents our first birth. It’s a flesh birth. God says these are not the children of God. We have a sinful nature. We naturally do that which is wrong. So God says these are not His children. Now take your Bible and turn there their to the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 15. 1 Corinthians in chapter 15. And notice what he says in verse 50, verse 50, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 50. It says, now this I say brethren, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

Our look up here, flesh and blood, the first birth, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. He can’t see it. He can’t enter it. He can’t inherit it because he’s not a child of God. So this is the first birth. And God says, there’s none righteous. No, not one. There’s none that sineth that doesn’t sin. All have sin and comes short of the glory of God. We’re all in the same boat. This is everybody that’s born into the world of the flesh birth.

This is why Christ says you must be born again. God doesn’t do anything with this birth. He doesn’t change this birth, doesn’t change this man, and trying to quit your sin and turning from sin and all that stuff has nothing to do with salvation. The new birth is a birth born of God. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of John chapter 1, the book of John and chapter 1. This is why when it says here in John chapter 1 how that Christ came into the world and He didn’t come to condemn the world because why the world is already condemned God’s already done rendered judgment Every man has sinned every man is condemned and the whole world is guilty So Christ doesn’t have to come to condemn the world and he didn’t come into the world to condemn everybody because of their sins

Yeah He came to pay for sin. He came to save man We’re already condemned. That’s why when we want to win people to Christ, we don’t have to spend hours an hour And I’m trying to get them to quit their sinning They’re condemned They’re guilty. They’re on the way to hell quit their sin. It ain’t got nothing to do with anything They need to know how can they get saved? How do they get the new birth? So John chapter 1 looked there in verse 11.

He came into his own, but his own received him not talking about the nation of Israel But as many individually. As we see them to them gave He power, the authority to become the sons of God, specifically to them that believe on His name. Our look up here. When you and I believe that when Christ died on the cross, pay for our sins, if we believe He did it for us, He gives us as a free gift, eternal life.

We become His child born into His family. This is a new birth, born of God. If it’s born of God, then that means God is the Father. If God is the Father of this new birth, then this new birth is as perfect and as righteous and as godly as God himself, it’s his child. God can’t father a sinful individual. He can only father a perfect son of God. This is the only reason that we can go to heaven whenever we leave this world, is because we are perfect just like God is perfect.

No sin. And that’s why he makes the statement in the book of 1 John and chapter 3. In verse 9, that whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. For his seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he’s born of God. If a man is born of God, he cannot sin. That means cannot commit one single act of sin. There’s two Greek words, praso and poeo. And one means to practice sin. And that’s a lot of what you find in a lot of translations.

But the word there means you cannot commit one single act of sin. Because his seed remaining in him and cannot not sin. Now he can’t practice sin. He can’t sin. He can’t commit one. So how do we get out of this jam? Remember this. If I am now a child of God by faith in Christ, and God is my Father, If my new bird has no sinful nature, it cannot what? It can’t sin. If it cannot sin, it cannot die.

And if it cannot die, it lives for how long? Forever. So how long will I be a child of God? Forever. So I have these two birth. There’s the old man. There’s the new man. And I got one body and they both live inside of this body. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. But the old man lives in there and he wants to claim control. It’s like having a car and you got two people in the car and I’m driving down the road.

If I say I’m driving it to wheel and there’s Leon setting over there. The other day I looked down this road and I looked at that away and I pulled right out and men I just slammed on the brakes because the car was coming right there. And if I’d have just another second then he would have got Leon. And they’re right Leon scared me up. I think Leon wanted to drive. But he represents the old man. I represented the new man.

I saw it in time. But it’s like two people that are struggling on who gets to drive the car. And here’s your one body that you have. And God says, it’s whoever you yield to. You can yield to the old man and he’ll drive your car, but he’s already told you, I’m gonna wreck this thing if I can. And then you let the Lord lead and guide you, and he’ll always keep you safe. So you got a choice as you go through life.

Bless your spirit, bless your spirit. But they fight back and forth all the time. hate each other. And so you go through this rigamaro all the days of your life struggling back and forth. But it says that whenever you receive Christ as your Savior you’re born in the God’s family and if it cannot sin it cannot die you’re a child of God forever. Now take your Bible looking to book of Romans the book of Romans in chapter 7. Romans, chapter 7.

This portion of scripture has tied up many a preacher trying to figure out how do I explain this? It’s really not that difficult when you understand the two natures. This is the Apostle Paul. I think one of the greatest Christians that ever lived. This is after he has been saved about 25 years. And look what he says in verse 15. This is the great Apostle Paul. Notice how many times he says the word, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I He says in verse 15 for that, which

I do, I allow none. In other words, I didn’t give myself permission to do that, but I did something I didn’t permit myself to do. Then why did I do that? He said, for what I would, that do I not? In other words, what I want to do, I don’t do. Sound like a lot of Christians? Well, I want to serve the Lord, but I didn’t. I don’t want to do anything wrong, but I did. We try to watch what we say, what we think, and what we do, where we go, and all the things, and we keep messing up.

Anybody like that you know? He says here, but what I hate and that do I Yet then I do that which I would not I can send him to the law that he is good Because I gave myself permission to do it Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me that word sin is singular It refers to the old man means in refers that old sinful nature that you have inside of you Look at verse 18 now for I know that in me That is in my flesh.

Develop no good thing for to will is present with me, but how to perform that, which is good I find out. Look up here. The problem in the Christian life is learning how to perform. This is what God wants me to do. Yeah, but I got half of me that doesn’t want to do it. How do I win? I struggle with this because God wants me to do this and I want to do that, but I don’t want to do it now.

Because I got something inside of me that always does just the opposite Do you really want to be mean and ugly and unkind and hateful? But do you ever find yourself being mean and ugly and unkind and hateful? You ever say something really mean and ugly and sharp And all that may I’ve been my little halo just never slips You know, there’s only about nine minutes between a halo and a noose and some people’s halo is a little crooked He says, for to wield the desire I want to, but I can’t figure out how to succeed.

So he says verse 19, for the good that I would, I do not, and the evil which I would not that I do. Now, if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do, but send the dwellers of me. I find out who it is. It’s that old man that’s inside of me, that old nature that I’ve got, the old man that’s trying to get control of my body. And then he always trying to sneak up behind you and then knock you as far as he can Remember he wants to ruin you did you see here’s a rat see this right right here?

There’s a rat right here See over here. There’s some cheese right there. You know this cheese is no problem for this rat Unless inside of this rat is something that desires cheese You know if he didn’t desire cheese, it wouldn’t tempt him Why would that stupid little rat put his nose inside that little mouse trap? because he’s after what? That cheese. And so he is deceived. He is letting something that he wants lure him into that. See that’s what if you didn’t have a sinful nature the desires of the world wouldn’t bother you.

You see that good looking blond bombshell walking down the street. It wouldn’t bother you if you didn’t have inside of you something that was wrong. You got a problem. The desire to make money to get rich, all these things, pride, jealousy, envy, bitterness, all these things that God says, that’s the old man, put it off. But you’ve got to take and have something better because there’s a principle of replacement. If you move something out of your life, you’ve got to fill it with something better.

If you feel your life doing the thing God says to do, you won’t have time to do the other. I told people out here in Colorado one time, I said, I stay so busy that I’d have to schedule when they get in trouble. Schedule your life, or you keep doing the things you know you’re supposed to do, and don’t make provision for the flesh. Don’t make opportunities to get in trouble. It’ll help you. Then what he says on here in verse 21, I find in a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me.

It’s always present. And we’ll be until the day you die. Now very quickly, we got to cover this very quickly. Look in the book of Galatians in chapter 5, the book of Galatians, and chapter 5. Look in verse 16. This is a choice that you make, a choice that I make. Nobody can do it for us, but it’s an individual thing. You can be as godly as you want to be. You can be as worldly as you want to be.

But it’s your choice, but there’s a price to pay. In verse 16, this I say, then walk in the Spirit, you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Look up here. Walk in the Spirit. That That means yield yourself to the new birth. This new man has got new desires that loves the Word of God and wants to do right. Yield yourself to the new man and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You still got him.

You’ll always have him. Have them. Till the day you die, called the flesh nature is in the body. When you trust the Christ as your Savior, He washed your soul as white as snow, but He didn’t do one cotton-picking thing to that body of yours, it’s getting old and it’s going to die. And when the body dies, the flesh is gone forever. Aren’t you glad? That’s why He says, if a man believe it in me, though he died, yet shall he live?

And you will live because you’re in Christ. It’s the new birth. makes the statement in verse 17 for the flesh, lost against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh, the flesh, lost against the Spirit, the Spirit, lost against the flesh. They hate each other. There are two extremes, war it all the time inside of you. That’s why some Sunday mornings I want to go to church and another one says, no you don’t. I want to read the Bible. I don’t want to read the Bible.

I’m gonna have me accures. No you’re not. And so you have the flesh over here and he He says, I hate the new man. And so they want to fight all the time. Here’s that little Muslim over here, that little Arab, and he hates the Jew. And they always fight. But the first birth was the flesh birth. And it’s always been the first. It was always Cain. And it was all after the day. It’s just the way it is.

Now, when you look at these scriptures, and you try to give me a visual image of it, picture a white dog and a black dog inside of your fighting. So I said, well, which one wins? The one you say sick them to. The one you say sick them to is the one that will win. It’s your choice. And the flesh will never leave you alone. He wars against you all the time. You see, your biggest problem is not your neighbor.

Your biggest problem is not the guy that you got on the job. It’s not the person down the street. It’s not the preacher. It’s not the person sent beside you in the pew. They’re not your biggest enemy, it’s not even the devil. It’s not old man that lives inside of you. He’s the one that’s doing you in. He wants you to live in fear. He wants you to be totally corrupt. He doesn’t want you to serve the Lord, do right.

But anyway, he said in verse 19, now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are the works of the flesh is the products of the flesh. Look over here, the flesh. And these are the works of the flesh. This is not written to the lost man. This is written to the Christian. The worst of the flesh are manifest, which are these. Adultery, fornication, and cleanness, less divviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresy, himian murders, drunkenness, and reveling such life, of which I gave before as I told you in time, fact that they would use the things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Why can’t they inherit the kingdom of God? Because we read it first while ago, this is flesh and blood cannot what? Inhear it the kingdom of God. He can’t inherit the kingdom of God. None of his works will ever show up in heaven. So the Christian is wasting his life yielding himself to the flesh and let the flesh ruin his life down here Most people I know want verse 22 and 23 But the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long suffer gentleness goodness and faith Makeness and temperance against it says there’s no law.

There’s no law against that There is a law that says you’re not supposed to bring forth the works of the flesh, but there’s no law that says you can’t love You can’t have peace you can’t have joy that doesn’t say that, does it? So over here, the Spirit, you yield to the Spirit and look what you’re going to have. You yield to the flesh, look what you’re going to have. Now which one do you want? This seemed like a no brainer to me.

And that’s why I make the statement there in the book of Galatians in chapter 6. Look in verse 7, be not what? Be not deceived. God is not mocked for what sort of a man so if that shall he also reap. Look of him. If you sow to the flesh You’re gonna reap from the flesh and if you’ll yield yourself to the Holy Spirit you’re gonna reap that What do you want? So as you go through your Christian life, you’re the one that got to call it sure deal So you can make up your mind You owe to the Lord and you’ll love it and if you don’t you’re gonna be whooped because God is not gonna allow you to live as you Please and get away with it.

There’s a price to pay But Understanding this I don’t get where you are at home at church work. I don’t it doesn’t matter You know that you have within you an old man don’t feed his desires like I used to say if you were to take and put me in a room with you know in his prime Cassius Clay put me in a ring with Cassius Clay what chance do you think he had in his prime and me and my prime why are you laughing but you see if I if I could do something I I think I could figure out a way to whip it you see if I didn’t feed him then you mean thing to drink for about two weeks.

He’s still with me, six months. Nothing to eat. So that he’s just a bean-pole and totally weak. And all the time I’m working out and I’m doing all the good stuff. See, I can build myself up where I can take it. But you’ve got to feed the one, start the other. See, most Christians, they’ve got to feed both of them. You know, they give the Lord a little bit on Sunday, but then the other days of the week, they do whatever they want to do.

Well, I gave God my dues. Now the rest of his mind, I can do anything I want to do. No, you can’t. All my life belongs to the Lord. I don’t try to do anything wrong on Monday that I ain’t supposed to do on Sunday It doesn’t matter what day of the week it is it doesn’t matter where you are Where do you let down? We can you just you know not worry about it anymore? No, you’re always concerned all about the testimony every day all the time At home, did you realize it’s just that my testimony is as important between me and my wife But it is between me and the deacons of the church or where you work your testimony is always important You can’t never let up like it doesn’t matter in front of the back person.

I can let my hair down, you know, I can do it. No, you can’t. I don’t tell dirty jokes in church. I don’t tell dirty jokes outside of church. I mean, your testimony is supposed to be the same. Or did I misunderstand something? That’s why he’s talking about in the new birth, the true holiness to where if a man really loves the Lord and want to walks with the Lord, it will produce a true holiness in his life. I don’t like the charismatic thought of having up on us that we We ought to take and shun sin and evil just as much and realize that this Bible is true and we need to obey it.

Look up here. This is you and me and this is sin. We all have sin upon us, but God says he loves us, but he hates our sin. And for us to pay for sins, eternal separation from God in a place called hell. And God doesn’t want us to go to hell. He wants us to go to heaven. And to go to heaven, you’ve got to be perfect. It’s right. This is God. Nobody’s perfect. We’re all sinned and come sort of God’s perfection.

God says that the payment for sin is death. So you can’t save yourself. This ends in 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. Christ’s, He’s, he’s faithful on the cross, came back from the dead and said, well believe He did it for us, he put that payment out, we get to go to heaven on what He did for us.

Isn’t that simple? Isn’t that the best news in all the world? Don’t ever forget it. It is the best, nothing better than this. Let’s pray, Charlotte. Every head bowed and every eyes closed. No one looking around. If you’ve trusted Christ as your savior, your God’s child, You have eternal life. You’re going to heaven when you die. But until then, you’ve got to walk through this life. There’s an old man that lives inside of you. There’s a new one. And the one that controls your life is the one that you yield control to.

That’s why he says in the book of Romans in chapter 6, yeodie your body, your members of instruments of righteousness unto the Lord, and God will bless you for it. And talk to the Lord and ask Him to help you. When you’re doing things that you shouldn’t do, correct it. Because you can’t walk in the flesh and win. You will not succeed. You can’t play the game. You can’t play both sides of the fence. You don’t want to side of the other.

Don’t be a hypocrite. Our father, we asked your blessings upon us as we studied your word and understand these things and fly them to our lives. It helped us to do right all the time. I just church, but at home, at work, wherever we go, with your children. And probably ask your blessings upon us. In Christ name we pray, amen. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you 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 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at six o’clock on Sunday evening live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvary of tampa.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

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

Alrighty, open up your Bible so you’re going to need it. Exercise your fingers. Got a lot of scripture to look at this morning. So turn in your Bible to the book of Ephesians in chapter 4, the book of Ephesians, chapter 4. The title of today’s message is the key to true holiness, the key, the true holiness. It deals with the two natures, but I want to explain to you why. If you understand today’s message. I believe it’ll be the key for helping you to understand the Christian life better than any message you’ll probably ever hear.

I heard it years and years and years ago and though I’ve had a lot of mountains and valleys, a lot of dead ends and dry holes and detours, this one message of understanding this has helped me more than any other single message and I believe it can help you. So some of you have heard parts of it before but I want you to listen again because nobody can make you a spiritually strong Christian. Nobody. A preacher can only teach the word.

It is you that must yield to the word in order for it to be engrafted into your soul, for it to accomplish the purpose that God had sinned. And if you yield to what God says, you can become a strong spiritual Christian. If you do not, you will be a weak Christian, saved, but you will not accomplish too much with your spiritual life. So in the book of Ephesians in chapter 4, I want you to look their inverse 17 verse 17 says this I say therefore and testify in the Lord that Yehins’ forth that means from now on from this point forward that Yehins’ forth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind so the Christian is supposed to be different from the world we’re not to walk as as others walk.

We’re God’s children. We’re special. We have an important job to do. Our Heavenly Father is called upon us to do great and mighty things for Him. Serving the Lord is the greatest thing that any man can ever do in his life. It’s not going to be important how much money you made, how many homes you had, or how much you got on your job, or how much the retirement is, or any of those things. Those are not important things.

It’s what kind of treasure have you laid up in heaven. That’s where we’re headed. So we made the statement here in verse 18, that those who walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, been alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. So a man who does not serve the Lord is walking in blindness. He is ignorant. His life is darkened and is alienated from the life of God.

And so there’s a lot of difference between the goals of a Christian and the goals of a lost man. We’re not to live as lost people. We’re different. We’re God kids. We’re His children. Now get verse 19, who being past feeling have given themselves over unto less diviousness to work out uncleanness with greediness, but you have not so learned Christ. Now remember this, we are talking to God’s people, and He’s talking to them about the way the lost people live and work, but it’s also letting you know that you can do the same thing.

A Christian can live just like the lost man, still saved, but we know according to the scriptures that God is going to chasten that individual. But He says, you have not learned Christ. In other words, you didn’t learn that from the Lord. So you can tell many times whether or not you are going to do what God says do by what the Word of God says. When he says you have not learned, you didn’t learn to live in the flesh from God.

So if you are going to sure the Lord, you’re not going to behave the way the world wants. There has got to be a difference in a Christian’s life. So what do you learn from the Lord? Well it’s going to be the opposite of what we just read. Verse 21, If so be that you have heard Him and have been taught by Him. So one of the reasons that we believe that some people have been taught by the Lord is by the way they live.

Because we naturally assume that you’re going to live according to that which you know. And if you know know the Lord, and you hear His word, believe His word, why should we expect the word of God to make a difference in a difference. But you know, there’s multitudes of God’s children who live week after week, and there’s no signs, no evidence in their life that they love God. They don’t apply it in their life. Well, they can still be saved, but there’s no sign of them loving the Lord, no sign of walking with God.

So he makes the statement here in verse 21, and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. You can tell if a person has spent some time with the Lord. You generally will take and pick up a lot of the traits of people that you hang around293 and you sayois things the subscay way, -> and you may not even be aware of it. I used to copy Ray a lot, and little did I understand that I was taking on a little bit of a lot of his mannerisms, even the way he, heArray talked.

A lot of things that I never thought about until 20 30 years later when I listen to him speak and I find it He does that just like me Well, he didn’t copy me. No, I copied him Look what he says now in verse 22 Verse 22 says but put ye off concerning the former conversation or behavior The old man Which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust now. Where is this old man? Where’s this old man? So y’all might look at me and says you ain’t you’re an old man, but I got news for you You got an old man inside of you too and And the old man is the old birth, the old nature, the flesh birth.

That’s the old one. And how many of God’s children have an old man? All of them. So he said, put off concerning the former behavior, the old man. According to the::::::::, in other words, we have an old sinful nature that deceives us and thinks we are all right. You know, there’s a verse in the Old Testament book of Proverbs that talks about there is a way that seems to seem it, seemeth, but the end thereof or the ways of destruction.

It seems right. So that’s why he says in the book of Proverbs, it says, lean not unto thy own understanding and all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path. lean not unto thy own. In other words, many people think they’re wise enough to guideapestel. And yet the book of Jeremiah says it is not within man, the wisdom of the wisdom of the witness toamazon steps. So nobody is smart enough without God. That means you are deceived.

And God doesn’t want us to. Now give what he says. the difference between verse 22 of putting off the// old man and then in verse 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. So this is why, likevironment says in the book of Romans in chapter 12 verse 1 and 2, Nauveseechelisher therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy except the blood on the Godmble which is your},” and be not conformed to this world, but you’re notrepreneing the world, you’re not.

You’re not. You’re not. You’re notzona. The man discovered was that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So how does a man transform his life? You weren’t transformed when you trusted Christ as your Savior. You were given eternal life, but your life is formed. Everything has changed. Now, from the old birth to the new birth, yes, that’s changed. And everything from God, that’s new, that’s good. But a lot of habits and things like that may not change. But the way you transform your life is to renew your mind by the word of God so that you can think differently.

And your life will be a direct ratio to the caliber of your thoughts. So if you want to raise a caliber of your living, raise a caliber of your thinking because your life and the decisions you make out there are all the results of things that are born within the mind. So success and defeat start right up there. So God says renew the mind by the Spirit. Now look what he says in verse 24. That you put on the new man.

So there’s an old man, there’s a new man. You put off one, put on the other one. Who makes this choice? You do. It’s an individual decision. It’s not something that God takes over you and you don’t have anything to do about it and you’ve lost total control and Slain in the spirit. Oh No You make a decision a deliberate decision. You know what you’re doing No phony baloney We’re talking about as he says up there about true holy look in verse 24 And that you put on the new man which after God has created in righteousness and you are on the line these last two words true holiness.

This means it’s without hypocrisy. Where you’re real, you’re genuine. And that’s because you have put on the new man and taken off the old man. But those are choices that you make and you do that by the thinking. So between taking off the old, put it on the new, the only thing that lies between is the thinking of the individual, they’re in verse 23 you’re renewed in your mind and You renew your mind by the word of God so as you read the word you study the word and it because causes you to think differently and That changed things in your life and you yield yourself to the Lord and you have the results of a transformed life See Romans chapter 12 verse 1 and 2 is not written to the lost man It’s written to the believer and if being a say man was automatic that you’ll have a transformed life

And why do we have to have the scriptures telling us what to do to get it? So it’s not automatic and many of God’s people never live a transformed life where they learn what God’s word says and what they are supposed to do So this is important. I know you see the other verse look at in Colossians in chapter 3 this turn to you right to the book of Colossians and chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3 and notice there in verse 1 is giving us the motive.

Why should I? In verse 1 of chapter 3 Colossians says if ye then be risen with Christ remember this. When Christ died on the cross in the eyes of God he did it for me. So when Christ died on the cross. I died on the cross because he did it in my place. I get credit credit for it. So I was crucified with Christ. I was buried with Christ. I rose again with Christ. So then he says here in verse 1, if you didn’t be risen with Christ, well, where is Christ now in heaven?

And we are in Christ. So that’s why he says in the book of Ephesians chapter 1, we’re seated together in the heavenlies that God already sees us there. He says that I’m not there yet. I’m still here. But he says in verse one, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ said it on the right hand of God. Set your effects of things above, not on things on the earth. He says, for ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Whenever you trusted Christ as your Savior, remember his death became your death, and God accepted that as your death. So you are a dead man. You’re a dead man. You and I are supposed to be dead to the world. And if we’re dead to the world, then we don’t have to worry about the deceitful lust getting us if we’ll just remember that we’re dead to the world, but dead to the world, but alive unto God. So we’re here and we’re supposed to live like I don’t have a sinful nature.

I’m supposed to live like I don’t have deceitful desires for the things of the world, and I’m supposed the yield of myself totally to the Lord because that’s the way God sees us. God now sees you in the Spirit. That doesn’t mean you’re naturally spiritual, but that’s how God say He no longer sees you in the flesh. He sees you in the Spirit. You have been changed, born again in the God’s family, and that’s how God sees you. That is your position in Christ.

It’s a wonderful thing to know. Now, look what he says there. He says in verse one, seek in verse two, set and in verse four, when Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. Mortify, that means a mortician, or some mortician. Somebody worse than a funeral home and I call it mortuary. Mortify. Oh, it’s mortifying. Oh, what did I mean? I scared the death.

Well, that’s where you get the word from. So we’re talking about mortify the member, talking about these, the sinful desires and consider them as dead. Don’t spend your life satisfying the desires of the flesh. Render them dead. Yield yourself unto God, and God says you can have victory in the Christian life, but most Christians never reach this level. You see, there’s a salvation, you become a child of God, lot of God’s children never reach another level, never grow where they’re stronger in the Lord.

He says this in verse 5, mortify therefore your members which are upon the year for education, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil, come keep and spend, keep and send, and covetousness which is idolatry for which things say the wrath of God come up on the children of disobedience. Now look at it, children of disobedience is also a reference in the book of Ephesians in chapter 2 to lost people when we were children of disobedience, children of unbelief, But as a child of God, can you also still be a child of unbelief and disobedient to the Lord?

Yes. And so as a child of God, we’re supposed to serve the Lord. And if we don’t, then we’re disobedient. Not to put off the old man is disobedience. Not to put on the new man is disobedience. But he says now in verse 8, but now he also put off all these anger, wrath, Malus, blasphemy, filthy communication out of you. What’s this? These are the, this is the old man. See over there in the book of Ephesians it says, put off the old man.

Well now we know what the old man is. It’s all these sinful desires. In verse 9, lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the, there’s that word, you ought to underline it. Old man. You see I’m only 20 years old, you still got an old man. And in verse 10 and have put on the new man, put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Now, this is a good thing to know what to do, what not to do.

So if somebody says, you know, the Bible doesn’t tell us as Christians, there’s, you know, this negative thing about there’s things we can’t do and yes, it is, it’s in the Bible. There’s positive and there’s negative things to do, there’s things not to do. God has a list of do’s and don’ts, like it or not. Now notice, I want you just to say a few things about a couple of other scriptures and then we’ll look at some other ones, but you don’t have to look at these.

In the book of Genesis in chapter 5, it says, and this is the book of the generation of Adam in the day that God made him and how that he He lived so many years and he had the sun and blah blah blah and blah blah blah, but after about 950 years, what happened to him? He what? He died. And then he talks about another one, lived so long and he died. Another one so long and he died and he lived so long and he died.

You know what was interesting about the book of the generation of Adam? The inches check back? They all what? Died. Now there was one that didn’t die and that was Enoch. But you know who outlived Mathosla? Mathosla lived 900 and how long? 69 years? That’s a long time to live in it. You know who outlived him? His daddy? His daddy didn’t die. He didn’t. I didn’t make it up, that’s in the Bible. But anyway, but they died, but that’s the first birth.

When you go to the book of Matthew in chapter one, so then this is the book of the generation of Jesus Christ. And then it lists the genealogies there. And as you go down through all these 14 generations, there’s no deaths recorded. Why aren’t there any deaths recorded? Because this is the book of life. See, whenever you’re in the book of living, you’re gonna die. He says, rejoices your name is in the book of life. In the book of life, there’s no death.

So that’s why one day at the Great White Throne Judgment, the books will be open. But those who did not have their names written in the book of life were cast into the lake of fire. That’s why it’s so important for us to realize it. As a child of God, we know that we will never die. You’ll never be separated from God. But the first birth will be. And that’s why if you’re born once, you’ll die twice. But if you’re born twice, you’ll only die one time.

Now take your Bible and turn to John chapter 3. John in chapter 3. Remember this, nobody can walk through life holding your hands all the days of your life. You have to learn how to stand on your own. You need to learn how to walk with the Lord. And you need to learn how to deal with your sinful nature. How to cope with it? And this is the book and it’ll help you. So everybody has the same problem. Every Christian’s got the same thing to deal with.

And we are all like passion. We desire the same thing. Old sinful nature. It’s a battle unto the day you die. But in John chapter three, you’ll notice there in verse three. Jesus answered and said unto him, Nicodemus, Verily, verily, truthfully, truthfully, I say unto thee, except the man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So you can’t see it. And down here in verse five, Jesus answered, verily, verily I say unto you, except the man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

So you can’t see it, you can’t enter it unless you’re born of God. So the Bible teaches that a man must be born of God. So if we’re talking about an old man, And that’s the one you got when you trusted the Lord and then you talk about a new man. Well, when was he born? When was this new man born? He had to have a birth Well, that’s interesting because When you trusted Christ as your Savior, you got a new birth.

That’s when the new one was born, but notice what he says in verse 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That’s the first birth That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. That’s the second birth. So the first birth is flesh and you can be born again and again and again and again and again. But if it’s a flesh birth, it doesn’t do you any good because every flesh birth is a sinful birth born with a sinful nature.

Would it be great if we could be born the second time without a sinful nature? That’s what the second birth is. being born of God from above without a sinful nature. You see, if I could have a birth without a sinful nature, then I wouldn’t desire sin. I wouldn’t do wrong. I would never die. Wouldn’t that be great? Well, that’s what happened. But you’re still living inside of a body that has an old man living here and he doesn’t want share the body with a new man.

So guess what they do? They fight all the time. And that’s the struggle that you have in the Christian life. So in verse 17 says, marble not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. So you must be born again. The only way you can get this new man is to have a new birth and the new birth is by trusting Christ as your Savior. Now look over there in the book of Romans in chapter 9. The Book of Romans in chapter 9.

Many people believe that there’s the Fatherhood of God. And that means that God is the Father of everybody. So that means if God is the Father of everybody, then we are the brotherhood of man and we’re all brothers. Well, it all depends on which family you’re talking about. God is the Creator, but He’s not your father until you’re born into his family. When you’re born into God’s family then you become a child of God. But look what he says in verse 8 of chapter 9.

That is, they which are the children of the flesh. These are not the children of what? They’re not the children of God. So you’re not a child of God unless you have been born into God’s family. Now this is where I like to use a simple illustration because I want you to have this so ingrained into your mind, you’ll never forget it. And I don’t care what happens and where you go, you’ll always remember how to keep yourself strong in the Lord.

How to deal with this old man. This arm right here. This represents our first birth. It’s a flesh birth. God says these are not the children of God. We have a sinful nature. We naturally do that which is wrong. So God says these are not His children. Now take your Bible and turn there to the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 15. 1 Corinthians in chapter 15. And notice what He says in verse 50, verse 50. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 50.

It says, Now this I say brethren flesh and blood cannot inherit that kingdom of God are look up here. Flesh and blood. The first birth cannot inherit the kingdom of God. He can’t see it. He can’t enter it. He can’t inherit it because he’s not a child of God. So this is the first birth. And God says, there’s none righteous. No, not one. There’s none that sinned that doesn’t sin. All have sinned and comes short of the glory. We’re all in the same boat.

This is everybody that’s born into the world of the flesh birth. This is why Christ says, yes. must be born again. God doesn’t do anything with this birth. He doesn’t change this birth, doesn’t change this man and trying to quit your sin and turning from sin and all that stuff has nothing to do with salvation. The new birth is a birth born of God. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of John chapter 1, the book of John and chapter 1.

This is why, when it says here in John chapter 1 how that Christ came into the world and he didn’t come to condemn the world because why the world is already condemned God’s already done rendered judgment every man has sinned every man is condemned and the whole world is guilty so Christ doesn’t have to come to condemn the world and he didn’t come into the world to condemn everybody because of their He came to pay for sin. He came to save man.

We’re already condemned. That’s why when we want to win people to Christ, we don’t have to spend hours and hours and are trying to get them to quit their sinning. They’re condemned. They’re guilty. They’re on the way to hell. Quit their sinning. It ain’t got nothing to do with anything. They need to know how can they get saved. How do they get the new birth? So John chapter 1, look there in verse 11. He came unto his own, but his own received him, not talking about the nation of Israel.

But as many individually as received him to them gave the power, the authority to become the sons of God, specifically to them that believe on his name. Our look up here, when you and I believe that when Christ died on the cross, paid for our sins, if we believe He did it for us, He gives us as a free gift, eternal life. we become his child born into his family. This is a new birth, born of God. If it’s born of God, then that means God is the Father.

If God is the Father of this new birth, then this new birth is as perfect and as righteous and as godly as God himself, it’s his child. God can’t father a sinful individual. He can only father a perfect son of God. This is the only reason that we can go to heaven whenever we leave this world, just because we are perfect just like God is perfect. But no sin. And that’s why he makes the statement in the book of 1 John in chapter three.

And in verse nine, that whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. For his seed remained in him and he cannot sin because he’s born of God. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. 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 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 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.

You know there are some things in life that you only get one chance to do some things. You only get born in this world one time. No reruns, no instant replays, no nothing, just one time you’re born into the world. And as far as your life goes, you only get to live life here one time. You don’t get to do that over again either. So what you do, you did and that’s it. You don’t get to do it over again.

The Bible also tells us that one day we’re going to die and we’re only going to do that one time. So we’re only born once, we only live once and then we’re only going to die once in this whole world. Somebody asked me one time and says, how come you only finished the 10th grade? Well, I didn’t want to go into the 11th grade. My dad was in the 11th grade. Now, I didn’t want to be in the same grade with my dad.

Of course, you know, that was just a joke. But there are some people who had to repeat, you know, the first grade and the second grade and the third grade and repeat a lot of grades. But sometimes you have to take and repeat a class. Now, there’s some people that even get married. I mean, time you’re supposed to get married, well, once, if a person died, you can get married again. Sometimes people get married, well, it didn’t work that time, we’ll try it again.

And then if that doesn’t work, we’ll try it again. There are some people in life that you can try this little religion, and if you don’t like that one, we’ll change this religion. And don’t like that, we’ll change to another religion, and they can just change and change and change. But the day will come when you run out of time. And hopefully as we go through life, have found just exactly what we’re looking for and it’s the right one and you can stay on track all the days of your life.

Well sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t. Look there in Romans in chapter 7 and verse 15. When it comes to the Bible there’s a lot of times people believe that you know if I try harder, if I can just get the right religion and the right rules and if I baby’s rules and regulations and someday I’m gonna make it. I never saw my mom and dad in church. I mean I’ve come out growing up for 18 years. I never saw them in a church.

I never saw them read a Bible and I’ve never seen them prayeligible.// We never had none Quality STATS RadeonIntern So I wasn’t raisedRepublicBey Church. My daddy was a bootlegger. That means he stole corn and jugs. But I was a little bit like it is right here. Look what he says in Verse 15. Well, that which I do, I allow not. And for what I would, that do I not. And what I hate, that do I. Well, that was me to a T.

I had been told and what I’d heard was that if you’re good, you go to heaven. If you’re bad, you’re going to hell. So I think of the fact it’s true. I’m going to bust it wide open. But I thought I want to try to do the best I can. So I know I never drank. I never touched the drop. I never swore a cuss word and I never smoked. And I figured, you know, if anybody makes it, surely I will.

But I didn’t know God. I didn’t go to church. I didn’t read the Bible. And I prayed though, but I really didn’t know who I was praying to. I was hungry for the Lord. I wanted to know if it was true. I wanted to know that. But I didn’t want to get trapped in some man-made religion. If then I do that, which I would not, I can send unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it but send that dwelleth in me.

in me and I knew that the harder I tried the worse things seemed to get. And even if you say I’m not going to try, I’m not going to do anything wrong. I’m going to do right from now on. You fail. You keep failing and you fail miserably. We don’t live up to our own standard because most religions are nothing more than a different name. A different set of rules and regulations. And so you can go to this religion or this religion or this religion or that religion.

And there you have a few things that require this maybe a little different than the other, but principally it’s the same thing. What? You got to do this to get there. And if you don’t do this, you ain’t going. And so I didn’t know what the rules were. I’d heard that you’re supposed to keep the Ten Commandments, but I have to be honest, I didn’t even know what they were. Somebody said we got to believe the Bible well, I believe the Bible, but I had no clue what it said But I did want to go to heaven when I died But nobody ever told me explained how I could know now look what it says in verse 18.

This is a very revealing verse Though this verse and these verses I’m reading right now is about the apostle Paul after he had been saved for about 25 years It still is showing you the conflict that we have in our life with if you’re a lost man, that means you’re a man that doesn’t know where you’re going, and you try to earn your way to heaven by trying to keep the law. Because all this is talking about obeying the law.

And as much as you want to obey the law, God says, there is no flesh to be justified by the law in the sight of God. Why? Because nobody can keep it. Nobody loves the Lord thy God with all thy hard mind body soldens, but nobody does thou shalt not covet Everybody does thou shalt not lie everybody does they say well haven’t done all the other ones So you have to keep the law perfectly or you don’t keep it at all And it doesn’t matter which one you break because the wages of sin is Death the soul that send him shall die so everybody sins and breaks the law so everybody’s condensed So that’s the condition of the whole world so the law cannot save a man.

The law just shows you how righteous God is and how unrighteous we are. So no man can keep it. And this is with a frustration in most religions is they’re trying to earn something God says is free. Look what he says in verse 18 for I know that in me that is in my flesh it’s so body we have. Develop no good thing. For to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find a how to perform.

Okay you I’m gonna keep the law to go to heaven well The problem is, there’s nothing wrong with the law. See, the law says over there in verse 12, where for the law is good, the law is just, the law is holy, the law is spiritual, because God gave it. But there’s nothing wrong with the law, it’s just the problem is, it’s me, I can’t keep it. So I find in me, that is in my place, I got a problem.

I got a sinful nature, I sin naturally, means it’s not against your nature to sin. It is within the realms of your nature. We all do things wrong. We think wrong. We have lustful thoughts. We say wicked things. We hurt people and we are very covetous. And so we’re very materialistic and we think about the things of the world. So we have a problem here. In verse 19, he says, for the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do.

So I wind up doing the very thing that I don’t wanna do. It would be great if I say, you know what? I am going to live for God for the rest of my life and I’m not going to do anything wrong from not starting today. Right now, I’m not going to do anything else wrong. How long you think I can last? How long you think it would be good for? Now I’ve got to call what’s good, what God’s all is good, and I’ll have to call bad what God calls bad.

But I preached the other night talking about it’s not that bad. Remember, it’s not that bad. Because we don’t think that what we do is that bad. But what that bad is is very wicked in the sight of God. God requires perfection to go to heaven and people can’t get it. See, to go to heaven, heaven is perfect. For me to get there, I got to be perfect. Well, heaven is perfect. God is perfect and to go to heaven, I got to be perfect.

Well, am I perfect? No, I can’t go. Okay, who gets to go? Nobody. You mean nobody’s going to be in heaven? Not less or perfect. So you can’t get to heaven. Nobody in the world. So trying to obey a bunch of rules and regulations and all the religions of the world, religion comes from two Latin words, re-enlegio, meaning to bind back. There’s people trying to do all these good deeds, trying to bind themselves back to God by what they do.

And God says, it’s not that way. Have you ever got a job and you didn’t like that job, you didn’t like the boss or whatever it is, so you got another job. Anybody ever done that? I’ve done that a lot of times. And I’ve got another job. What about a doctor? You’re the doctor and he tells you something’s wrong. I don’t like you, I’m gonna go to another doctor. And so we go to another doctor. And we don’t like this medicine, we can get some more medicine.

So you get chances and opportunities, isn’t it wonderful? We can change our mind a thousand times and we can keep making corrections all that we want to. But now look there in the book of Romans in chapter three. I want you to look in Romans in chapter three. You’re right there, just turn back one page. And look at verse 23. For the wages of sin is death. Death is the wages. That’s what you receive because of sin. So if you didn’t sin, yet you wouldn’t die.

You didn’t sin, you wouldn’t die. Why does everybody die? Because everybody sins. Sin came into the world because of one man and death by sin. But if we didn’t sin, we wouldn’t die. The death is not the punishment. Death is not the punishment for sin. But the wages, that’s what you earned. You earned the right to die. That’s a wage. You go to work and you work for a week. guy on that Friday gives you a paycheck, well, you earned that.

Well, God says to die, you earned that, you earned the right to die. That’s physical death. So we all die because we earned it. But punishment in the book of Hebrews in chapter 9 verse 27 is appointed under every man wants to die and after this the what? Judgment. The judgment is the punishment. So everybody’s gonna die but there’s a judgment after that if there’s anything that you and I ought to be right on because you don’t get another chance some things you can change your job and you can even get another woman you can get another boyfriend or get another girlfriend and you can you know do a lot of things like that get another doctor on this issue of how to go to heaven Once life is over, you better get it right.

Do you understand the consequences if you don’t get it right? You get one chance at this. In this life and this life only you got one chance to get it right. And look of how many religions there are. And you got one Bible and look how many different translations that you can come out with and how many different views you can come out with. It’s a how do I know which one’s right? If you’re a Mormon and born in a Mormon family, guess what your Mormon parents are going to try to teach you to be Mormon?

If you’re born and your parents are Jehovah’s Witnesses, what do you think they’re going to try to teach you to be? And if you parents were Catholic, what are they going to try to teach you to be? And not on down the line, every religion tries to convince their kids and anybody else they can, they’re right and if they’re right, they’re wrong. All religions can’t be true. They can all be right. Somebody’s right. Somebody’s wrong. How do you know?

Oh, I got my little old people right up here and I got all these thoughts and these real various religions. How do I know which one’s right? Well, God broke it down so we could understand the truth of it and how easy it really can be. So take your Bible and look there in the book of 1 John chapter 5, 1 John and chapter 5. I love this verse. I didn’t know it was in the Bible until I was 18, but in 1 John chapter 5, look there in verse 13.

And look what it says, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have what? Eternal life. So does the Bible say that you can know you have eternal life? It says you can know it. And it says there these things have I written unto you that believe. It’s not to those who join the church, keep the Ten Commandments, you know, it’s just those that believe.

And it’s written to those that believe on somebody, on the name of the Son of God, which is Jesus Christ. Do you believe on Jesus Christ? These things have I written unto you that do that. He didn’t write to everybody to believe whatever they want to believe. Only those who believe this that you can know you have eternal life because not everybody else can know it. If you try to earn your way to heaven he never said you can know you go into heaven if you aren’t it.

He never said if you went to church you can go to heaven. No he didn’t say that. Ephesians chapter two verse eight and nine. These are two very important verses. Look what it says in verse eight. For by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves, it is(& it is the what? Get of God and get verse nine. Not of works, lest any man should boast. So we know this. Can you know you can go to heaven?

Yeah, can you know you have eternal life? Yeah. Can you earn it? No, not of works. So notDirectory means not of works. Somebody said, well, it all depends on how you interpret it. Okay, how would you interpret not of words? I interpret it not of words. Means you don’t earn it. If it says not of yourself, that means there’s nothing that I do, nothing that I do*, that will save me. Another one is nothing that I have to depend upon me doing or getting done.

Trusting means that I am dependent upon somebody else to do the work. So if I trust Christ,ource that that means my going to heaven I heaven depends upon Christ. Not upon me, depends on him. Now he said he would save me. He will give me as a free gift ever lasting life. And if he gives me everlasting life, it will last for how long? It will last forever. And that way you can know that you’re going to heaven when you die.

Look in Titus in chapter three, the book of Titus, chapter three, where it makes the statement in verse five, not by works of righteousness, which we have done. So there’s not, I’m not saved. because I did some works of righteousness, not because I did something. I’m no I’m going to heaven because I did no, not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He saved us by the Washington regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit and so that in verse 7 that being justified by His grace grace means unmerited means you don’t deserve it.

Grace means you do not deserve to be say and God says you’re saved by grace. If you’re saved by your works then it can’t be grace. Remember that illustration I gave you not long ago? My code on that’s works. My code off well that’s grace. So he says that if it’s by works then it can’t be by grace. Otherwise work isn’t work but if it is by grace then it can’t be by works otherwise grace isn’t grace. See how simple that is?

If God says it’s It’s free. That means you don’t earn it. No code. But if you believe this by your words, well then see that messes it up. Now is there is this free or you got to earn it but it came? You got to earn it, but it can’t be both ways. You see, God’s going to save me in entertainment heaven and don’t cost me anything. He did all the work. He saves me by his grace and it’s a gift.

It’sBILITIES by my words. And He’ll give you eternal life. Well, if He gives me eternal life and it’s forever, then where am I going to go when I die? Well, I’d go to heaven. But if it’s by my words, How would I know if I’m trusting in my works to help me? All you got to do is if I don’t do the things right, I don’t have the works. Will I still go? Now if I won’t get there because I didn’t perform, then I was trusting in my works to get me there.

Because if it’s totally by grace, there’s nothing that can keep me from going to heaven. Either he paid for all my sins or he paid for none of my sins. If all my sins are paid, how many would I have to pay for if he paid for all of them? None. Let me show you a simple illustration. This hand represents you and me. Wall it represents sin. We all have sin Frie on us. Now God says we all have a sinful nature and so that’s why we produce the sin.

scathing but the getundown I got to be perfect I can’t have no sin. Well that’s the problem I can’t get into heaven because God won’t allow sin into heaven. So that’s why I can’t go you can’t even. So what happened was God says the wages of sin because you sinned you deserve something for that. So God says I’m going to pay you and the payment for this sin is dead you get to die that’s physical death everybody died but when you die it also cares with it, eternal separation from God in a literal fire burning hell.

So there we are. We cannot save ourselves. We can’t change the situation. We can’t do anything for ourselves. God says, you cannot save yourself. It’s not what you can do. So you don’t have to go to church to go to heaven and you don’t have to give money to go to heaven. You can’t buy your way there. Well, how can I get there? This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord. God in the place came into the world because he loves us, but he hates our sin because it separates us from him.

So what Christ did for one person, he did for everybody in the world. He took all the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead, and said that if we would believe that he did it for us, it put that payment to our account, and we would go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for that’s a gift that’s free. Where am I going when I die? I’m going to heaven. Why? Because he my sins have all been paid.

He paid for how many of my sins? All of them. And when Christ died on the cross 2,000 years ago, how many of our sins were in the future? All of them because we weren’t even born yet. Well, can He pay for our sins before I commit them? Well, He did, but He hasn’t died since I’ve been born. That means if He’s already died to pay for all of my sins, He paid for my sins from the time I’m born to the time that I die.

He made a payment for my sins, all of them. So if I accept that payment he made for me, then I have a payment for all of my sins. Not past sins, not just present sins, but all my sins. So I have a payment for all of my sins and he puts that payment to my account. I get to go to heaven on what Christ did for me. That’s a gift. That’s free. I didn’t earn it, didn’t work for it.

If I offered you my wallet and you accepted, what would you have? Empty wallet. And if I offered you my Bible and you accepted it, you would have a Bible. When would you have it? When you accept it. So this is why salvation is of the Lord. You don’t earn it. You can’t work for it. You cannot buy it. Now, one of the best illustrations I believe that’s ever used in the Scriptures to explain how a man is saved.

And remember this. There is no illustration in the Bible, none anywhere in the book that ever says that God saved a man. And then the man got lost and then God saved again. No place in the Bible. So once God saves a man, he saved for how long? However, because God said, they’ll never cast you out. John chapter six, he said, I’ll never lose you. He says, and I give them the eternal life. No man is able to fuck you out of my father’s hand.

what it means is this. Here’s the Lord. Here’s me. When I trust Christ as my Savior, He saves me. So that means my going to heaven depends upon him keeping his word. So if I trust him, he said, he’ll save me and he said, he’ll never cast me out. He said, he won’t lose me. He said, no man can pluck him out of my hand, me or anybody. You can’t pluck yourself out of his hand. So this is how I know I’m going to heaven when I die because my going to heaven depends upon him keeping his word.

Now does God lie? No. He says he that believeth only hath everlasting life. Now religions, all religions, you can add them into this category. It’s that they believe here’s the Lord, whatever they want to call them, and here they are. They believe that if they get a good grip on God, I believe on God. And I turn from my evil ways, confess to all my sins and repent it and all the rest of it. And now I’m going to walk out straight and narrow away and I’ve done everything, but if I start doing anything wrong, I can slip away.

I’m sliding away. Now I’m lost and I’ve got to get saved again. And then if I don’t do right, I’ve got to pray through, hang on, let go, let God. And there I am again. See, this doesn’t work the quarter because this means I am saving me. But of course, I’m talking about God. I can talk about Jesus Christ and how I’m trusting Christ. I’m trusting Christ to take me to heaven. Am I trusting Christ to take me to heaven?

No. My salvation depends on me because this is why people in this world, they believe you can get saved today and go to hell tomorrow. If they can lose their salvation, just because it’s in their hands. It depends on how strong they are. Can they hang on? Can they endure to the end? See, their salvation doesn’t depend upon Him, depends upon themselves. That’s not the Bible. That’s man-made religion. So all the religions that teach you have to do something by the way you live, you’ll get to heaven.

Or you got to keep that way, you know. Oh yeah, I’m trusting in Jesus Christ. He’s the only way in all that. I’m trusting him and grace and buy no works and so forth. I know you say all of that But see your salvation doesn’t depend on Christ. It depends on you because you believe you can lose it They either believe one or two things say you don’t believe it Christ Men what he said or did what he said he did.

What did he say? He said if you trust me I’ll give you ever last in life and never cast you out. All right. That’s what he said Do you believe it? The other one was you don’t believe he did what he said he did. What was that? He paid for all my sins Well, if all my sins are paid, what sin can condemn me to hell? If all my sins are paid. All of them are paid. I think I say, well, you can commit suicide.

I says, is that a sin? He says, yes, pay. He says, pay. All sins paid. You believe it or you don’t believe it? I said, you don’t believe the Bible. Jesus Christ tells the story of the man hanging there on the cross right beside of him. And he said, Lord, remember me when thou cometh into thy kingdom. And Jesus says, today shalt thou be with me where? In paradise. Here’s a man hanging on the cross. Had he done anything wrong?

Oh, yeah. He was a thief. He was one of those that was hanging there. He was down on the cross. What did he do? Did he have to join a church? No. I joined the church. I was 18 years old. You know what church was the first church I ever joined? Northside Baptist Church right here. I trusted Christ as my Savior right here 46 years ago down here in part of the apartment and Betty’s dad got me to come out to church since I come out here and this is where I joined the church but you know what I had to do also have I ever been baptized?

Yes I was baptized where? Right there in this Baptist Church. 46 years ago. So what I’ve been baptized But you know, it’s joined this church. This church can’t give me to heaven. Or the church would be my savior. If I, the man that baptized me, his name was Virgil Edwards, he was the pastor here. Well, if I had to be baptized in water to be saved, well, the man that baptized me would be my savior. Because if I can’t be saved without being water baptized, was the one who baptized me.

Did they work for me? I owe him my salvation. Is my salvation should be owed to a man? No. But was I baptized? Yeah, I was baptized. But you see, that doesn’t save you. It doesn’t give you eternal life. It’s a picture. Me and my wife, we ran away and got married. And there’s some South Carolina. There was no photographers there, nobody there taken pictures and so forth. And we signed a little piece. It was the justice of the peace.

Found out later it was the secretary of war. But anyway, we got married 18 years old. We have had a lot of pictures since then. But when people get married, it’s because they take pictures. The picture doesn’t marry you. It’s only a picture of your marriage. When I stand in the water, That’s a picture of Christ on the cross. And when I go under the water, that’s a picture of my burial. When I come up out of the water, that’s a picture of my resurrection.

So when I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross, buried, rose again for me, and because I believe that, then every person who believes that is to be water baptized. So I’m placed under the water. I come up out of the water and that’s a picture of my death, burial resurrection, but this doesn’t save me. I do this because I am saved. Join the church. Am I a member of the church? Yes, I join the church, but I don’t do that to go to heaven.

That little deed that I did in a little, little living room, I was born in the God’s family that day, that minute, that very second. God became my Heavenly Father. I became His child. He said, he’ll never cash me out and never lose me. That was the best news I ever heard in my life. Because see, if you’re going to heaven depends upon anything that you have to do. You don’t never know if it’s enough. You won’t know when you die if you’re really gonna go to heaven.

You’ve got to hope all your life. I have known beyond a shavad out. I know I have eternal life. I know I’m going to heaven when I die. Best news in all the world. That’s what being saved, I mean, being saved means you’re saved from something to something. I will save from hell to heaven. He that believe it to me, you have it, you’ve got it. It’s so simple, it’s free, it’s a gift. 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 six o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now we’ll closing thought from Pastor Arnold.

Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach the 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 totally. This is 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 to take your Bible and turn to the book of Jonah. I want you to understand that many times There are stories in the Old Testament that teach New Testament doctrine, New Testament truth.

So once you trust Christ as your Savior, it is the will of God that you serve the Lord. Serve the Lord to go to heaven, but we should serve the Lord. God wants to use you. And if you don’t serve the Lord, you should understand, because it’s the will of God, that He’s going to beat the tar outClosure you and make you wish you have served the Lord. So there is a story in the Old Testament that isCHECK loaded with all kind of jewels.

And that’s the Shanahan story of Jonah. Now Jesus was here haha and he talked about Jonah. He says, an evil and a doctor’s generation seeketh after a sign, but there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. Where Jonah was three days and three nights in the wheels bell, even so shall the son of man bepotion three three nights in the heart of the earth. So we know that there’s a stamp of approval put upon the book of Jonah.

Jesus says this is a trueampion. This year one Christian was arguing with an atheist and he says, I guess you believe in that story about Jonah. He saysporary He says, yes, I do believe in the story of Jonah. And when I get there heaven, I’m going to talk him about it. He says, and what if he’s not there? He said, well, then you can talk to him. lahoma. But yes, I do believe in the story of Jonah. So this is a story about a man named Jonah, and in chapter 1 he runs away from the Lord.

In chapter 2 he runs back to the Lord. In chapter 3 he runs with the Lord, and in chapter 4 he runs ahead of the Lord. So oh he’s a busy man, he’s just running all over the place. When you trust it Christ is your Savior, God says that He has entrusted us with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God which try at the heart. So God wants us to deliver a message. When out there it was a Gentile city.

city in Iraq, named Nineveh. God wanted these Gentiles to know the Lord, to know Him. So He has His messenger. But this Hebrew, he didn’t like them Gentiles. But God says, I’m going to destroy the city. You would think that Jonah would have been heartbroken over that. Jonah wasn’t heartbroken over that. Jonah wanted Godblogs to get him. Jonah chapter 1. Look at this. In verse 1, and now, the word of the Lord came under Jonah, the son of Nana, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, cry against it for their wickedness has come up before me.

Number 1, he knew the will of God. God just told him what to do. You and I are not, God, but… but doing it is a different story. Now he didn’t want to go there. So what he did, he decided, I’m going to do some running. Verse 3, Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarsus from the presence of the Lord. Now the presence of the Lord is in the will of God. So if you want to be in the presence of of God just simply be in the will of God and blah blah.

There he is. Many people run from the Lord and wonder, I wonder where God is, I wonder where God is. Well, you’ll find him in the will of God. That’s where God is. So if you was to do the will of God in the will of God, there he is and you get to know him. But he wanted to run from the presence of the Lord, means he wanted to run from the will of God. So when you run from God, you’re not just running from the will of God, Youpload Can you send him to heaven?

He’s there. Go down to hell. God’s there. God’s everywhere. God can be everywhere all at the same time. You can’t run from God, though people try. But get what he says here. And he says in verse three, and he went down. You ought to underline that word down. It shows the direction that you’re going to go when you try to get away from doing the will of God. Now, remember, we’re reading this because it’s to help you to know how to live your life.

So he says, and he went down to Japam and he found the ship going to Tarsus. So he paid the fare thereof, and he went down into it to go from them unto Tarsus from the presence of the Lord. And so anytime you wanna run from God, you’re gonna go down. You’re either walking toward the Lord with the Lord or away from the Lord. So how you doing? You’re walking with the Lord, away from the Lord, or going back to the Lord.

He says in verse four, But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea. Remember the Lord sent the wind. The Lord did that. God sent the problem into the sea. And there was a mighty tempest in the sea. God did that so that the ship was like to be broken. God knew what he was doing. God caused a problem. That’s why, see, when you run away from the Lord, you can expect, yeah, you’re going down. You’re going away.

But there’s more problems where you’re headed than what you ran from. Anytime you run from the Lord, you’re heading to more problems than you can shake a steak at. I was told you not to pull the trouble trouble to trouble troubles you. But some people just look for trouble. You think you’re getting away from something, you’re getting it worse. You see, if you think the responsibility of doing what God wants you to do, and he says, my yoke is easy, my burden is light, whenever you try to get rid of that yoke, do you realize that he’s going to put a yoke of iron up on your neck?

Now, which one’s easier. The yoke of the Lord or the yoke of iron and it will weigh you down until it destroys you. So he says here, then the Mariners were afraid and cried every man unto his God. So they had different gods and cast forth the wares that were in the ship and to the sea to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down inside the ship and he lay and went to sleep. the nerve. He didn’t care.

He didn’t care if he lived or died. He just runnin’. And what he says, so the ship master came to him and said to him, what means thou? Oh, sleeper, arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us that we perish done. It’s amazing how holy these guys got all of a sudden. And they’re on the ship and it’s about to be broken up and they know they’re gonna die. And now it’s time to call upon the Lord.

You know, some people are just like that. They don’t need God, don’t want God. But something happens, all of a sudden they got to call upon the Lord. Lord, get me out of this mess or out of this jamming. Then they make a whole bunch of pledges and promises and vows. How many times I’ve been to the hospital and I have to pray for me. If I ever get out of this, I’ll be in church every Sunday. And they get well and I never see them.

They meant some other church. I should have known that. Have you ever had something the crisis in the family and you will ask God, Lord, if you ever get me out of this, I promise, and you’ve got a vow that you made. But look what he says in verse 7, and they said, everyone to his fellow come and let us cash lot that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cash lot and the lot fell upon Jonah.

You’re the bad guy. You’re the one who did this. Then said the unto him, tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us. What is thine occupation? When’s comest thou? Where’d you come from?PORT What’s the country? What people are thou? And you said in the then, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, capital L O R D, Jehovah, not just any God, God, the God of heaven, which made land and the dry land and sea.

Then were the men exceedingly afraid and said unto him, why hast thou done this, for the men knew why he fled from the presence of the Lord and you’re not aligned it because he told him. He knew what he had done, knew why he did it. They had all kinds of questions. Did you know that sometimes problems come so that people ask you questions? They ask him questions. Did you know he really wasn’t in a soul when he moved?

But God was forcing this upon him. Well he told him he said, now if you want to solve the problem looking verse 11, then said to him, And what shall we do unto thee that the sea may become unto us? For the sea wrought and was very competuous, and he said unto them, take me up and cast me forth unto the sea. So shall the sea become unto you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.”

Have you ever had a Joan on board? Sometimes he can be the husband in the home. He’s a Joan on board. He knows right, but he won’t do right. because of his decision to everybody else suffers. Sometimes the man wants to serve a Lord and the wife doesn’t want to serve a Lord and she can be a Jonah on board. He would rather die than do the will of God. So he says here in verse 14, wherefore they cried unto the Lord.

Now they’re all crying to L O R D, his God. We beseeze the let us not perish for this man’s life and lay not upon us innocent blood without old Lord L O R D, see before they were praying to their God, now they’re praying to his God. Isn’t it amazing how God can use people to get people to the Lord? And so it says in verse 15, so they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea and the seas from her region.

Problem solved. Boy, solved that problem. Just threw the man overboard. But it ain’t all over yet. Looking verse 16, then the men feared the L-O-R-D, Jehovah, exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows. be surprised how many people have made vows unto the Lord and they never kept them. You probably made some vows sitting here. For example, have you ever made a vow to your wife or your husband until death do us part and it didn’t last very long?

You’d be surprised you could make vows about your children to raise them up in the nurturing and admonition of the Lord and then you don’t do it. The story of Jonah is in here to see how God works in the life of a disobedient person. You know what to do and you don’t do it. It says to him that know if to do good and do it that not to him, it is sin. And look what he says in verse 9, that’s”], now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.oded.

And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Now, many people say that Jonah was in the belly of the fish and so he died. And he may have died, but it says he was three days and three days in the fish’s belly. And if he had died, he wouldn’t have been in the fish’s belly for three days and three nights. He would have been in the heart of the earth. Now that’s where his body was, but where was he?

But when Christ referred to it, it says, even as Jonah was three days and three nights in the will’s belly. So shall the son of a baby, three days and three nights in the heart of the earth? Well, I believe that if he had died, he would have been there, but it doesn’t matter. It was a type of the death barrel in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So in verse one, where Jonah runs to the Lord. Now look what God had to do.

It was the Lord, remember that, prepared that, the wind. It was the Lord that made the storm. It was the Lord that prepared the fish. God’s been busy. God is working in your life. In verse two he says, and he said, look at verse one, then Jota prayed unto the Lord, his God out, out, of the fish’s belly, that’s where he was. Now get what he said, and he said, I cried by reason of my affliction. Well, he thought it was gonna all be over with.

It’s not over with. He said, I cried under the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell, cried I and I rehearsed my voice. Now, that’s why some people believe that’s where he might have went. Oh, maybe he did. I don’t really care where he went. I just know he’s in the belly of the fish and he’s crying out to God and he’s got problems. In other words, wouldn’t it have been worse to have been in the belly of the fish and you can’t get out and you’re whirling it all around and seaweed all over your salt water and you’re trying to fight for your air?

But it was miserable. And can you mat it all this your acid inside of a fish’s belly? I believe whenever he came out he must have put pure white. If Jonah had never got right with God, that fish would have never vomited. In verse 3 he says, For thou hast cast me into the deep in the mist of the seas, the floods compass me about, all thy billows and thy waves pass over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward the holy temple.

The waters compass me about, even to the soul that debts closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the bottom of the mountains. The earth with her bars was about me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption. O Lord my God.” You can get what he says in verse seven. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord. That’s a good time to do it, isn’t it? And my prayer came in under the, under the holy tebhem, they that observe lion vanities for sake their own mercy.

But I will sacrifice under thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed and underlined this phrase, salvation is of the Lord. Hey, I’m ready to go now. And in verse 10 of chapter 2 and the Lord spake unto the fish, it vomited out, I join up on the dry land. If verse 9 had to take in place, verse 10 wouldn’t have taken place. But always remember, there’s a God in heaven who’s going to beat the tar out of you.

You can’t live as you please and get away with it. You can’t thumb your nose at God and be rebellious in your heart toward God and not do what God wants you to do. And then God just lets you alone. He don’t give you a pass. So chapter three is second chance. Now Jonah begins to run with the Lord. He’s doing a, he’s going to run with the message God gave him and he’s going to where God wanted to go to start with.

Now look how much he could have saved himself. All that that happened to him didn’t have to happen. If she can’t, it was rebellious. So in verse one and the word of the Lord came on the Jonah on the line the second time the message did not change. The will of God did not change. Arise go to Nineveh, that great city and preach unto it the preaching that I bid. In other words, I want you to tell them what I’m telling you.

So Jonah arose and went into Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey. Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey and he cried and said, yet 40 days and none of us shall be overthrown. So the people of none of them believed God. They believed. This is what Jonah was afraid of. He knew they wouldn’t believe it. He didn’t want them to believe it. He wanted God to get him.

And they proclaimed a pass and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them, even to the least of them. Verse 6, Word came unto the king of none of us and he arose from his throne and he laid his robe from him and covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes and he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles saying, let neither man nor bees heard nor flock taste anything, let them not feed nor drink water.

What this guy was serious? He believed what Jonah preached and he didn’t want his city to be destroyed. But because of the wickedness going on in the city, he says, now you need to clean them things up. Christians are supposed to do right, but you don’t do right in order to go to heaven. ABE BUT DOING RIGHT CAN KEEP THE HAND OF GOD’S JETCHMENT OFF OF YOU. I believe that if God can see Nineveh, God could see America. Look at verse 7, and He causes to be published.

Through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his noble saying,stats Let nobody have anything. Verse 8, but let man and bees be covered with sackcloth, Cry mildly unto God, Hait, letstanbul turn everyone from his evil. This is not to be savedneau. This is to keep from having physical death. You see, you’ll find that mentioned throughout the scriptures about a man turning from sin, turning and forsaken his evil way. That’s because as a nation, even Israel, God could chasten them, whoop them, take them out of their land, all kinds of things.

Even a Christian, Christian, once you’re saved, should depart from evil. A Christian should turn from sin, but not to be saved, but because you are. If I do not want the chasteen hand of God upon me, I better correct the errors of my way. I better stop doing the things that’s going to bring God chasteen upon my life.” He says here in chapter 4 verse 1, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly. He was very angry. Now, why is he so upset?

You see, he’s mad at God. And he prayed unto the Lord. And you can even pray when you’re not right. And he said, I pray the O Lord was not this my saying. When I was yet in my country, I said, he went to another country. I believe that God has over the years, and we may not know how many different people that God it sent to other countries in order to preach. He says, when I was yet in my own country, this is Lord, this is why I didn’t want to go.

I told you this is what you would do. Therefore I fled before unto Tarsus. For I knew, get this, for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of a great kindness and repentance thee of the sea. And So I knew you weren’t going to do it. If they listened and they changed it, I knew you wouldn’t do it. What did he want him to do? He wanted him to be zapped. So give what he says.

In verse 3, therefore now, O Lord, take IBC, see my life, let me die. What did he have a pity party? This man just doesn’t learn his lessons. He says, for it is better for me to die than to live. ever get down so low that this was, listen. And literally, they didn’t know and understand that what he just went through was a type of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What an honor to be said, I was an example.

This one guy told me, he says, I’m not totally useless. I can be used as a bad example. Lord, take, I beseech my life from me, for it’s better for me to die than to live. Why didn’t God just do that? Well, he didn’t do it. Look at this. He says, then said the Lord do a style well to be angry. In other words, is that helping you? You feel better now? You’re all mad, you’re all upset, you’re angry.

How do you feel? You feel better now? Verse five, so Jonah went out of the city, sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, sat under it in the shadow till he might see what would become of the city. So he went up there and said on the hill, so while he’s sitting there on the hill, minus all business. The Lord God prepared a gourd. Have you noticed how many things God prepared? He prepared a win?

He prepared a great fish? He prepared a gourd? God did this. God prepared a gourd and made it to come up over Jonah that it might be a shadow over his head. Now isn’t that gracious and kind of God? To deliver him from his grief brief because of the hot sun. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. Now here’s all these people in the city. He don’t care about them. But now he cares about this gourd. Kind of like a turtle.

It fell in love with our army helmet. In verse 7, but God prepared a worm. See there? If God can use a gourd and God can use a worm, don’t you feel like God can use you for something? But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day. And it smote the gourd and it withered. Now God did it. God made a gourd to grow, shaded from the sun, and he liked that. And then God prepared a worm, sent the worm, the worm ate the gourd, killed a gourd.

And verse 8, and it came to pass when the sun did rise, that God prepared a vahimat east wind. God did this. And the Son beat upon the head of Jonah that He fainted and wished in Himself to die. And He says, it is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, do us thou well to be angry for the Lord? And He says, I do well to be angry, even in the death. See, God was giving Him an object Listen, look what he was trying to teach him at verse 10.

Then said the Lord, thou had pity on the Lord, for the which thou hath not labored, neither made it to grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. Should not I spare none of us? That great city wherein our more than six score a thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand and all that cattle. He says, there’s all those people and they can’t discern between the left hand, right? He said, they were totally ignorant.

They didn’t know the Lord. He says, you’ve got more compassion for that God than you have for those people. God’s like saying, am I wrong because I love? Am I wrong because I am gracious? Wouldn’t it be need if more people had more love and more kindness and a little bit more grace? Look up here. If you’re here this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, this is what God would want you to know. I, just like Jonah, have been commanded by God to take this message to anybody that I can get it to.

This is you and me. This is sin. God says that He loves us but He hates our sin. But everybody has a sinful nature and that’s why we do all these bad things. Now God sees everything that we do. There’s a God in heaven that knows everything. And he says that he’s going to have to judge us. And the penalty for sin is death and hell. Since every man sins, every man has to die. And spend an eternity separated from God.

But God says, I want you to tell the people that I love them. I don’t love the sin, but I love them. And because I love them, I want you to tell them something. You see, they can’t go to heaven the way they are. See, heaven is perfect. God is perfect. To go to heaven, you have to be perfect, no sin. Sin, we can’t get in. So God says, you can’t earn eternal life. You can’t work your way to heaven.

This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because he loves us, hates our sin, because it separates us from him. So Christ who had no sin did not have to die. So what he did is he took our sins, paid for them on the cross, came back from the dead. And God said, if we’ll believe that he did it for us, that he would give to us as a free gift ever lasting life.

And we go to heaven on what he did. Once you trust Christ as your Savior, you say, okay, I believe that. Then God says that he gives you as a free gift, eternal life, you’re his child, you’re going to heaven when you die. But God says there’s still a lot of people out there that don’t know and don’t understand. Now, you that know Christ as your Savior, did you see the reasons why we need to be found faithful in serving the Lord.

God says that He will chasten us. Chasing means to discipline, to correct. He uses another word, they’re chasing and scourge it. Scourget means a pretty good sized little beating. It’s not just a, don’t do that again. The other one might be bringing you down to the depths of the sea. I mean, where He’s trying to wipe you out. I mean, He can do it health-wise, finance-wise, He can do it. Don’t underestimate the power of your heavenly Father. Now the reason he doesn’t because he loves you.

He needed Jonah. I used to have people tell me, well, God doesn’t need you. He don’t need you. Yes, he does. He does need us. We are important. And God left us here to get a job accomplished. And the most important thing we can never do is to get people to trust Christ as their Savior. Let’s pray, shall we? With every head bowed and every eye closed, and no one looking around. If you are here today and you never trust the Christ as your Savior, just never trusted him.

Why not right now and just talking to the Lord? Say something simple, Lord, I’m a sinner. Friend God knows it, just matter each one of us admitting it. I’m a sinner. I mean, I’m not perfect. I’ve done things wrong. I’ve sinned. When you say I’m a sinner and I’ve sinned, it means I deserve to go to hell. I deserve to pay for what I’ve done. But I believe Jesus Christ that He died, paid for my sins. And friend God says, if you’ll trust Him as your only hope of going to heaven, He will save you from hell and give to you the free gift of eternal life.

And they’ll never cast you out and never lose you. With his bow nice and close, anyone that all says, yes, I’ll trust Christ as my Savior and preach, I’d like you to pray for me. Would you just slip you in a very quickly, but write back down? In one of the all, let’s God bless you man. You can put it down. Anyone else, just slip it up very quickly. Let’s God bless you man, I appreciate that. Let me just change it just for a second.

When Jonah ran ahead of the Lord, he didn’t have any patience, he didn’t have any peace. He had no perception. He lacked discernment. He had no purpose to live. And God had to teach him a very important lesson. You have trusted Christ as your Savior maybe many years ago. And you dedicated your life to Him. You said you were going to serve Him. And you haven’t done like you promised. You haven’t kept your vow. If you hear this morning, you say, I want to renew my vow.

I want God’s blessings. I want God’s will. I’ve been running long enough. I want to do whatever God wants me to do, or whatever time I’ve got left. And preach out life, you’re to targ for me. Now I’m not going to have you forward. I’m not going to embarrass you. I do it with heads-bound eyes closed. But you say, yes, you spoke to me today, and I need to get things right. And I want you to pray for me.

You just could be in it very quickly, but wrap it down. Yes, God bless you. Give the hands all the God bless you all. Thank you so much. 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. 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.

God knows me. God knows me. Now you may not know a lot of people and a lot of people may not know you, but God does know you. And the scripture is Psalms 139 and verse 1, O Lord thou hast searched me and known thee. You know my heart, you know me. Now this is speaking mainly in creation. This is as God is your creator. God created you, God knows you. Now the other verses down there in verse 14, 15, just talking about in your mother’s womb how that God had formed you.

God made you. God’s the one that decided whether or not you was gonna be male or female, but you were gonna look like the cover of your hair and your eyes, the shape of your body. He fashioned that body, he said laws in the motion. But this is a God of creation. God created us. God knows you. You didn’t just happen. You’re not an accident. You’re specially designed by God. Now I want you to look there in 2 Timothy chapter 2.

You know that once you trust Christ as your Savior, you and I are born again, born into God’s family. And once you become a child of God, it’s great to be able to save. God is my Father. The Bible tells us in Galatians in chapter four that we are His children and we can call Him Abba, Father. That’s a great thing to know. You see, mom’s fellas here and dad’s fellas, brothers and sisters will let us down. That doesn’t matter too much.

You have a new father. You’re in a new family. And one of the greatest things to always remember in verse 19, where it says, nevertheless, the foundation of God stands at sure. The foundation of God is what we are standing upon, we’re resting upon, this foundation that is so sure, so rock solid is the knowledge of God, that God knows something and God can’t forget something and God says and gives His Word upon something and it makes this statement, having this seal, the Lord know a them that are His.

This is your new birth. The first one is you are known by God because God is your Creator. Now God knows you as His child. It’s great to say I know the Lord, but it’s greater that God knows us because you and I have a tendency to forget God. But God says He can never forget us. He fathered you. He fathered me. He is our Father, our spiritual dad. Number two is God loves me. She is one thing for God to know you.

It’s another thing for God to love you. Because God can know something and not love something. We know people, but we don’t have to necessarily love people. People may know you and not necessarily love you. God not only knows me, God loves me. Now of course you can turn to John 3.16 in quite a few verses on where God loves us. But I want you to look in Jeremiah 31. And notice what he says there in verse 3. Now, yes, he’s talked mainly to the nation of Israel, but Israel is made up of people.

And many times when it refers to Jacob, he’s referring to the whole nation. Just like what’s going on over in Israel. God loves his people. But the main reason that the Arab nations hate Israel is because Israel is God’s chosen people. That’s it. They’re God’s chosen people. . . . . . . . . -+ . . And because they rejected their Messiah, God said they’re going to be hated and persecuted all over the world, and they are. But now notice what he says here in verse 3, the Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love.

Now if God loves you with an everlasting love, how long will his love last? This is a very difficult question. You’re to know that God loves you. But see, God doesn’t love you just when you’re obedient. He loves you even when you’re disobedient. I’ll talk to Christians that because they go astray at times, they think after God doesn’t love them anymore. God never stops loving His children. God loves you. Always believe even in the harshest of times when everything seems to be down, no value to life.

When everything is going against you, where you’re totally filled with despair, God still loves you. But it’s so easy to get to where you think, nobody knows, nobody cares, nobody loves me, whether I live or I die. Well, I’ve been there so many times. But you always have to keep in your mind. God knows me. God loves me. Now, this is a very simple message, But it’s deep at the same time, because there’s things that we as Christians seem to forget.

Now, I want you to look at the last part of this verse, because the last part of this verse, how does God draw you? Christ says, if I be lifted up, I will what? Draw all men to myself. What does He draw with? Is it a rope? Is it with fear? It’s with love. God says, I am going to draw you with my love. Therefore with loving kindness, have I drawn thee? Now you and I, we should, yes, we should love the Lord because we have been loved.

God loves us. How do you know God loves you? How do you know God loves you? Well, he doesn’t love me because I asked for a pink Cadillac and I didn’t even get it. I know God doesn’t love me because I asked for a million dollars and I didn’t get it. I played the lottery and I told him I’d give him 10% if I wanted and he didn’t help me win. I proved God doesn’t love me. Well you know how God said that he would prove to you that he loved you?

By him dying on the cross, sending his son to die for you on the cross. That’s how God said that he proved that he loved you. Because he did for you something you could not do for yourself. He did the greatest thing he could ever do to give his life. This is what is mentioned in the book of 1 John, how that God is the propitiation for our sins, that He loved us, and He loves us with a never lasting love.

And this is how He draws. Now let me mention this to you. You and I are supposed to, whether it’s with our wife or with the husband or with the kids, we’re supposed to draw them to us by our love for them. And you know the devil will take the love that you tried to give and show to somebody and the devil gets into a person’s mind and can take every good deed that you do for somebody as an expression of your love and can turn it into hate.

The very deed that’s to prove that your love, the devil can cause him to think that just he just hate me. And people can say, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. But that’s because he’s something else is going on. There’s a battle going on. But should you stop loving because somebody twists your love, puts a spin upon your goodness and it can always happen. But you and I are supposed to love genuinely. As the Bible says sincerely, love one another and we are to draw them to us because we love.

And I believe that if us as a church would show people we really love them, we can draw them by our love. But if we act like we’re superior, we’re better, you’re no good, that’s not gonna draw because it’s with loving kindness. A lot of people have a rough time. Be kind to people and draw them with love. You’ll get so much better and more out of it. And even though your love may be rejected and your kindness is rejected, somebody else might receive it.

So don’t stop being loving and stop being kind because somebody doesn’t respond, not away. Now, number three, the thing I want you to write down is God accepts me. God accepts me. Ephesians chapter 1, we often sing that song just as I am without one plea. But that time, blood, was shed for me. Just as I am, not just as I ought to be, but let me tell you this. The very day, the moment you trust Christ as your Savior because God accepts you as His child because of what His Son did for you in satisfying God’s wrath against the sin that you committed against Him.

So God accepts you. And it says in verse 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace. wherein He had made us accepted in the Beloved. Now in this life you’re going to be rejected. There’s people that will reject you. At work you’ll be rejected. Sometimes family people will reject you. But you’re always going to go through this. It doesn’t matter. You know in your heart. Though all forsake me and all reject me, it doesn’t matter because God accepts me.

me because I’m in his son. I trusted Christ as my Savior. You are accepted in Christ. That’s a wonderful thing to remember because it’s so easy to forget. And whenever we get down and discourage the Bible says, consider him talking about Christ in Hebrews in chapter 12, how that he endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, even the death of the cross, but he didn’t quit. And God says, do not become faint and weary in your mind. They called it so easy to do so.

This is amazing what I’ve seen sometimes kids do trying to be accepted by their peers. They want to be recognized, looked up to, they want to be part of the group, a part of the gang, just so they can belong to something. There’s nothing better than belonging to the Lord and then accepted by God. You see, your status in this world doesn’t really matter too much. It’s just where do you stand with God? Because sooner or later, say, this world will pass away.

He says, my word will never pass away. And the day will come and we’ll stand before the Lord. That’s what counts. That’s what matters. Keep it in mind. The fourth thing I want you to write down, God will be with mean and look in Joshua chapter 1, the book of Joshua and chapter 1. Yes, God knows me. God loves me. God accepts me. And God will be with me. Now, you can go through life and you don’t always have everybody able to walk around holding your hand.

Every one of us has to learn how to walk with God ourselves. Nobody can walk with God for you. You can’t do it by proxy. Remember in the great commission where he says, going to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and lo I am with you always. Look there in verse 9, Joshua chapter 1 and verse 9, have not I commanded thee, be strong and of good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee.”

You ought to underline that verse. Though in this world you can be with a thousand people and still feel alone. I used to go to one school up in Pennsylvania. There was 3,000 students in that school. It was something I didn’t feel like I had a friend. Like I was totally alone. I wasn’t alone, but I felt like I was alone. But with the Lord saying, you’re never alone. God is always with you. That’s why He should be the dearest friend that you have.

You ought to love His word, talk to Him, and let Him talk to you all the time. Be the closest friendship or relationship that you’ve ever had. Nobody should be more precious than you than the Lord. Now you can have a friend, but a friend can’t do all the things for you that God can do. Right down the next statement, God will not fail me. God will not fail me. God makes many promises in his word. Let me ask you a question.

Who created the heavens and the earth? God? Who does it belong to? God? Can God give this land to whoever he wants? Yes, and if God says I want this piece of land here, that’s gonna be for Israel Now it doesn’t matter whether anybody else likes it or don’t like it. It doesn’t matter about the United Nations God has spoken He says this land belongs to you. I gave it to you Now notice what it says in verse three Every place.

That the soul of your foot shall tread upon. That have I given unto you as I said unto Moses. So God is reaffirming what He said to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and now Joshua. He said, I promised. And God said, all that land belongs to you. If Israel had served the Lord and honored the Lord, Israel would be a kingdom today that’s unmatched by any nation on earth. But they became disobedient. And they lost it. Now look in verse 4, from the wilderness and this Lebanon.

What’s that word? Lebanon. Have you heard of Lebanon in the news lately? That belongs to Israel too. But Israel forfeited Lebanon for the sake of peace. They even moved out of the Gaza Strip for the sake of peace. By them giving up this land for the sake of peace, did they get peace? No, they don’t get peace. There shall not any man be able to stand before the all the days of my life as I was with Moses So and you ought to underline this statement because it goes with the other one that we mentioned while ago in verse 9 I will be with thee now look what he says in the last part of his verse.

I Will not fail deep now look up here God Will not fail you you. In your Christian life, God never fails. You didn’t answer my prayer. God failed. God cannot fail. God does not fail. We may not do all that we can do. Shoulder the blame, take the fall, confess the sin, but never blame God. The Lord give it and the Lord what? Take it the way. Blessed be the name of the Lord. If God gives you praise the Lord, if God takes it away, praise the Lord.

Never get mad and upset and bitter at God. God cannot do wrong. God is perfect. God is righteous. Remember that. Because our serving the Lord is going to be in direct ratio to the caliber of our attitude that we have about God. And when you have a bad, sick attitude, feeling toward God because of what God did or God allowed or what God didn’t do that you think you should have done is going to affect your service for the Lord.

It will affect God, will not fail. The sixth thing I want you to write down, God will answer me. God will answer me. And that Psalms 138, look at Psalms 138 and Notice there in verse 3. In the day when I cried, without answered me, when I cried. If God answered you, then He knew what produced the tears. He knew what you were going through. He knew how you hurt, how you felt. He knew the anguish of your soul.

God answered and get what he says in the last part of this verse and strengthen it me with the strength where in my soul. You see it’s not always God answering and giving you the things that you think you need to get out of a jam it’s the strength of your character the strength of your soul you being strong enough to handle it. God does not have to do everything that I want him to do for him to be still alert in my life.

He doesn’t have to please me in all areas because God is God. He is free to do whatever he wants to do with me and should be free to do with you. He will strengthen you. He doesn’t mean you’ll solve all of your problems, but he’ll give you the strength you need to bear the problems. Some things you want to escape from, like the temptations of the world. You want to escape from those. But there’s other heartaches and so forth that God maybe wants you to go through.

Therefore God won’t deliver you from them. He just wants to give you the strength to go through them. Keep it in mind. The next thing I want you to write down is God will strengthen it, man. I just mentioned about strengthening my soul, but I want you to look in Philippians in chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4 and verse 13. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Now remember, it’s not talking in this verse about Christ strengthening me.

I’m going to do the things through Christ, which refers to those things. Otherwise, it was said through Christ, who strengthened it to me? It doesn’t say who, it says which. I can do all things through Christ, which strengthen it to me, through the things that God allows into your life, or to make you a stronger person. You may get sick, but you can get spiritually stronger. You can lose money, but become spiritually stronger. You can lose friends, but become spiritually stronger.

What do you think is the most important thing in your life? Is the strength that you have in the Lord? In the book of Ephesians in chapter 6, it talks about the strong and the power of his might. That’s talking about spiritually. It’s not talking about the physical body. It’s talking about what God means to you. And God will use those things to make you strong. And that’s why you can do all things because they strengthen you. The resistance in weightlifting is what builds your muscles.

It’s the resistance. So God will send you resistance in this life, but they can make you stronger. All things work together for good to those who love the Lord, to those who are called according to His purpose. But isn’t it easy to forget this when things happen? The next thing is God will provide for me. Number 8, God will provide for me. Where He says, My God shall supply all your need. It doesn’t say all of your greed or all of your wants, but all of your need.

Now God can very easily separate needs from greed and wants, desires. God knows what you need. God knows what I need// And our hearts prayer desires should be, Lord, meet my needs. Help me to lean upon you, to have the strength that I need to maintain the testimony that I ought to bear at all times. My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. In other words, whatever it is that I need is something that God has that He is rich in.

And that’s not necessarily talking about money, it’s not talking about vehicles, it’s not talking about… Now God can meet those needs, but the greatest need that you have is like Paul says, the things that I need is the strength to do the will of God. Will God give me the strength to have the right testimony at all times as long as you’re living in this life because things are going to happen. Number nine, God will bless me. You should live under that umbrella believing that God got up out of bed this morning, if you want to believe he got out of bed, for the sole purpose of blessing me today.

Why did God get up this morning? Because he’s got it in for you bud and he’s going to get you if it’s the last thing he does. No. You and I are supposedly God wants to bless me. Do you really believe that? Do you really believe God wants you to be happy? There isn’t anybody that wants you to be happier more than God. God’s the one that designed this life. God wants to bless you. He wants to bless me.

And look what he says in verse 8 of Malachi chapter 3. Well a man robbed God, yet you robbed me. But you say we’re in have we robbed thee. He says and tithes and offerings. What’s a tithe? A tent. What’s offering over that? How simple it is. In verse 9, ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me. Even this whole nation, ye rob God. In other words, ye didn’t pay what ye are supposed to pay. Did you know that God, when Christ was here, used money as the thermometer of a person’s love.

What you do to get it, save it, suspend it, invest it, everything it does with money, He feels an awful lot about you. God says that. So if a man makes $100, he owes God 10. It’s offering trouble above that. If you don’t do what God says do, then according to the word here, you might be a little thief. And you want God to bless. He says, I have to curse you. I believe a lot of churches are under a curse because God’s people don’t tithe like they should.

They don’t get like they should. Because they don’t trust God with a 90% to slip. They don’t, God ain’t gonna meet money. God won’t take care of me. God will fail me. No, God won’t. But people are afraid. And so they hold back. And they think just giving to the Lord’s work is just, you know, out of their abundance, whatever they want to, just give them a little pimp here and there, just trying to keep God off their back.

No, God says, you don’t get it. You don’t get it. You do what God says do. Then he says in verse 10, bring ye all the ties into the storehouse. Now I’m not saying the church is the storehouse. And I said, this is a principle that God laid down in the Old Testament. And he never stopped that in the New Testament, but says that we ought to give. I thought that what God has given us. He said, improve me.

The word prove me is test. Prove me now here with, say, at the Lord of Host, if”;I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. You want God’s blessings upon you? You should live every day. I want the blessings of God. Does the love of God for you and it desire to bless you? Does it do anything to that little tingling in your heart that says, I want to serve a God like that?

He knows me and He loves me and He accepts me. And He’ll never cast me out. He’ll never lose me. He’ll never fail me. He will answer me. God will do all these wonderful things for you. Why not serve a God like that? The last thing I want you to look at is Matthew chapter 11 in verse 28, number 10, God will give me rest. We all need a little rest. I’m not talking about rest of body, I’m talking about rest of soul because the strength that we need is for the soul, for you.

That’s you. And you need to have the peace of God. He says in verse 28, now we often use these verses talking about a lost man and the heavyweight and the guilt of sin, but he says in verse 28, come on to me. All ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you what? Rest, I’ll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find what?

Rest unto your soul, your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Do you believe that? What should you and I do when the rest of the world is falling apart? We should have rest in our soul because we’re God’s people. God won’t fail us. He’ll never leave us. He’ll never forsake us. It doesn’t matter what happens in the Middle East or what happens in America. I’m God’s child. He knows me. He’ll take care of me.

He’ll provide for me. He’ll never let me down. God’s a wonderful God. You and I are to have peace in our soul because we have trust in the Lord This is you and me and this is sin we all have sin on us God says he loves us But he hates our sin and for you and I to pay for this sin is eternal separation from God in a place called hell Let this hand represent Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in a place He came into the world because he loves us hates our sin because it separates us from him So what Christ did is He took our sin, paid for them across, came back from the dead.

And God said, if you and I will believe that He did that for us, He’d put that payment to our account. We get to go to heaven on what He did for us. Best news in all the world, no tricks to it, no gimmicks. God does love us. Let’s pray, shall we? Every headbound, every eye closed, no one looking around. If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, friend right now, just talk to the learn, say something simple like this.

Lord, I know I’m a sinner. I believe Christ died, paid for my sin. And I will trust Him as my Savior. If you’ve never done it before, do it now. And if you will, would you just let me know by an uploot to the hand? Just slip it up very quickly, but right back down. Is there any more though? Now, if you have trusted Christ as your Savior, your God’s child, seek to remember these things. Our Father, we ask Your blessings upon each one here, and Father upon this message that It would help each individual to love you and to walk with you.

We have to bless them upon them in Christ and 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. 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. 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 calvaryoftappa.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.

And all they raise, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy path. Look at that last promise. Is that a promise? He shall direct thy path. When I get to heaven, I don’t need it then. Before I was born, I don’t need it then. I need it now. So is God willing to work in my life now? Yes. And he says, don’t trust yourself. Lean not until I know and understand it. In all my ways, acknowledge God, and he shall direct thy path.

So you’re supposed to believe that the Lord has got a path, you and that you’re walking according to the path that he’s laid down. Get what he says in verse seven. The first part of verse seven, you ought to underline him. Be not what? Wise and thine own eyes. Fear of the Lord and look at those next three words. Depart from evil, you ought to underline that in your Bible. Now when we talk about trusting the Lord, lean not unto mine own understanding.

And then when he says be not wise and thine own eyes, depart from evil. What do you think he means by that? Depart from evil. I would translate that as depart from evil. See how easy it is to understand the Bible? That’s not hard, that’s not complicated. Now, take your Bible and turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 13. The book of Hebrews, in chapter 13. Way over there in the New Testament, Hebrews chapter 13. As you live your life, and you can’t go back, like I said, but you have this year.

This is a new year. It ought to be better than last year. Well, it won’t be any better than last year if you don’t make the changes. this is her for this year. And so in Hebrews in chapter 13, look what he says in verse 5, in verse 5, this has to deal with you and I living our lives, every day of our lives, believing that we are in God’s presence. Do you believe that you are in the presence of God?

Adam and Eve used to live in the presence of God. And then whenever they sinned, then he had to kick them out of the garden. And only by sacrifice they were able to have communion with God. Now look in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5. Let your conversation, that means your behavior, be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have. For he hath said, I will never leave the nor for safety. Now understand what he’s saying here.

Many people, happiness, their joy is based upon what they have. They have a lot, will I’ll be happy. If I don’t have very much, I won’t be happy. That’s not what this verse says. It says, be content with such things as you have, be content. And the reason was the last part of the verse says, because you have not lost the most important thing. What are your priorities? Let’s just pretend, look up here. Here’s the Lord. Here’s all the things of the world.

Which one should bring you the greatest joy? The Lord’s presence or all these presence? What would you rather have? Careful. And he says, you cannot lose me. He said, I will never forsake you and never leave you. I have him with me how long? Always. So if I don’t have this, I still got him. And if I got him, I got the best. He can give me everything else I need. But if I have these, then I don’t have him.

I can lose these and still don’t have him. Get it? So it’s better to have him and be content with nothing because the greatest thing is to have the Lord. Because if I’ve got the Lord and he’ll never leave me and never forsake me and he promised me certainly, I can trust him to give me whatever I need. So many people they fall in love with their things and not the Lord. So as you go through life, God is going to give you.

you and take from you because it’s testing whether or not are you completely satisfied if all you had was the Lord. That’s easy preaching and hard living. I’ll tell you right now. Now look there in John 14, the Gospel of John and chapter 14. We’re going through life. We want to make sure as we go through life we have the most important essentials in our life to help us to do what we’re supposed to do. What is the most importantly?

Knowing the word of God so that you can know the promises of God. God’s made a lot of promises to us. So there’s greater things that we can do. Look there in John chapter 14 and verse 12. Verse 12. He says, barely, barely, I say unto you. He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do, and you You ought to on the line that word also. Greater works than thee shall he do, because I go unto my father.

Christ says, I’m going to my father. I’m gonna leave you here. And I talk in here mainly to his disciples, but there’s truths that we can learn from these principles that he laid down. When I leave, I’m gonna let you have the indwelling Holy Spirit to live within you, and he will teach you, comfort you, guide you, bless you, power you, whatever. And you’re gonna do some mighty things. So if it says here in Greater Works, shall you do, that’s future.

You should always look and dream and dwell upon the fact that God can use you in a great way. Always believing that your life doesn’t have to be a boring dull existence. It can be as exciting as you choose to make it. Believe in that God is able to take anything in life and work it for his honor and glory, you may not see the full value of it until you get to heaven, but you can believe it now because it is now that it’s being done.

It’s been done by the decisions that you and I make at this time. When he makes the statement, works, greater works, shall we do? And talking about doing this in the future because he says, I’m going to my father, but there’s things I want you to do. you and I are supposed to believe God has a work for us to do.

And the work that he has for us to do is greater than the work that we choose to do on our own. Because there’s always things that we wanna do, places that we wanna go. But God says, if you will put yourself in my hands, I will bless you. Now let me give a simple illustration. Person used this recently. a person from the audience come up and told that person says, a young lady, would you please come up here?

And so the lady came up here and said, bring your purse. So she brought her purse. So she came up on the platform. He said, now we’re going to pretend I’m the Lord and you’re my servant. You trust the Christ is your Savior. And you dedicated your life to the Lord. Yes I have. And you want to serve the Lord. Yes I do. With all your heart. Yes I do. He says, so everything that you have, you’ve given it to the Lord.

Yes, I have. Sounds good so far, huh? He just give me your purse. So she put the purse up there on the podium. She says, take out your money. He said, now remember, you’re going to go back to your seat better off than when you came up here. Open up your wallet. So she opened up. She had a couple hundred dollars in her. So give me that money. She gave me money. Thank you. I appreciate that Says um, I think I’ll just have your whole purse.

Can I can I have your whole purse? Yeah Thank you Says um That’s a beautiful watch you have right there. I want that watch too Okay To get on game watch. Oh That’s a beautiful necklace. I want that necklace So she gave me necklace. Oh, I like that ring you have on your hand. You’re married? Yes. I want that ring. You can’t have my ring. I want the ring. Oh, no, no. You can’t have my ring. She says, you have a husband?

Yes, I got a husband. And you can’t have my ring. Okay, I’ll just take your husband. No, you can’t have my husband. Well, wait a minute. I thought you said you would give everything to the Lord. Yes, but. And she began to kind of retract from what she was saying. And by the way, that’s a beautiful little daughter you have sitting back there. I want the daughter too. You can’t have my daughter. You see, it’s so easy to say words.

I surrender all. They say that, you know what, two people are fighting. And finally the one says, I surrender, I surrender. Means that I surrender, means that I’m allowing you or giving you, you can take from me whatever you want. But when you commit yourself to somebody, you’re giving to somebody what you want. the Lord is that we give up to His will, whatever it may be. But what God does is set us free. And so He wants us to voluntarily give to Him everything.

But if we have to surrender to Him, it means that He’s free to take everything. So even though the Lord can take everything she has, the Lord wants you to surrender and to commit everything that you have and give it voluntarily. One is taking and the other satisfactorily. Now in your Christian life you have to make a choice. Do you want to give to the Lord or do you want the Lord to take from you? Now remember when he takes from you, he can take a lot more than you was willing to give.

He can take your very life from you. Did you know that Lord whenever we work, we make certain amount of money, we can give whatever we want to give to the Lord. But the Lord is the one that has emplaced upon our heart how much we should give. And if we don’t give what we should, did you know that God is free to do what? Take all of it. He You can take everything. Why? Because you didn’t do what you should have done with a little, I can take all of it.

So as you live your life, can God take your help? If God gives you good help and you don’t use it for the Lord, can God take your help totally? Yeah. If you don’t use your job as an opportunity to serve the Lord and the witness and so forth and take a strong stand, then you know God can take away the job. God can do all kinds of, God can work in our life. And I can see the judgment of the Lord in all the earth.

And there are some people that say, I’m just having a hard time. It’s just always hard. This is always, yeah, I know. But do you see God working? Can you see it? Maybe there’s something or some lesson God wants us to learn. Something that we’re supposed to correct, but we don’t see it because we’re not sensitive. We’re not really listening. We’re not really looking. We’re not really trusting the promises of God that He’s laid down in His Word. But anyway, look there in verse 13.

In John 14 and verse 13, there is the promise of answered prayer because there’s times you’re going to have to talk to somebody. God will always see to it that you cannot always share everything with somebody. That would be great if somebody could alwaysBUG to deliver you from a devastating dilemma. And you just got to go to the lower. So that’s what God wants. So look at verse 13 and whatsoever, ye shall ask in my name. This is why we always say at the end of a prayer in Jesus name.

We pray in His name. But it means more than that. It means that God we’re asking you to sign the check. I’m trying to make a withdrawal from heaven because I need something and God the Father won’t let me have it out of the bank unless Jesus put me in the house. erenn So we’re always saying, I need this. Lord, would you sign it? Would you okay then? You’re always asking Christ.

Christ for permission to have whatever you’re asking. Because Lord this is for your honor and this is for your I need this because a lot of you. Now, when you ask only to consume it upon your own lusts, as it says in James, he says, then you’re asking to miss. But all that we asked… lot of you. Now whenalbum you ask only to consume it upon your own lusts and says and James he says then you’re need a brand new pink Cadillac like Elvis Presley had.

He says right there. He asked anything in my name I’ll do it. But he also says there in verse 15, if you love me keep my commandment doesn’t it? So I don’t think God’s will is for me to ask for that pink Cadillac. Nor Lord I’m gonna play the lottery and if you’ll just let me win I’ll tie 10 percent. See anything wrong with that? I mean, who I can you go wrong with that? I’m going to give 10% to the Lord.

All I got to do is gamble to get it. No, I don’t play the lottery. I don’t even play bingoparse. I want to take an urn it the way that I’m supposed to do right. And if God blesses fine, if God does it, that’s fine. I don’t like any get rich quick schemes. Stay away from that stuff. Work by the sweat of the brow. Learn what you get and be content with it because you’ve got the Lord. And he can walk you through and you stay out of a lot more trouble.

And in the long run, you’ll have more than you ever thought you’d have. Now, in the last part of verse 13, I want you to see that. He says, and whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You see, the Father has it all, but the Son has to give us approval. He has to sign the check. And so He comes out of the bank account of heaven.

of heaven. He says, whatever you need, just come. Now, do you think you have more money in the bank than what God does? Would it be better if you had God who has an unlimited supply or you with a million dollars? Which would you rather have? I’d rather have God who is the God of all of it than have a million dollars in the bank. And I put my trust in I know some people that had over a million dollars, had over two million dollars in the stock market and lost over two million dollars in the stock market a few years ago.

I know them personally that lost that much money. Broke their little heart. I hate it when people have lost everything like that, but that’s the game they play. And if they make it, they make it, and if they lose it, they lost it and so forth. I haven’t never got yet where I can invest like that. I’m not against those that do praise the Lord, but there’s a better way to And that’s by trusting the Lord. I want you to look in Philippians in chapter four Philippians and chapter four and get this.

This is very important verse Philippians chapter four and you’ll notice there in this verse 19 Where it says but my God? My God shall supply all your need a According to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus, now do you believe the promise of God that if I servethe Lord and I do write that my God has promised677supply all of my needs. Now sometime we need to learn a lesson UNCLASSIFIEDsometimes we need toCooldownTextColorto do without.597sometimesapegowe have got to struggle so that we can learn that Christ is all I need.

Isn’t that easy to sing at verse? Christ is all I need. He’s all I need. All I need. And then if God takes anything away, ooh, they cry, fall apart. He wasn’t all they needed. They’d like to tack that on as on spiritual, but let them take them away. Try you. See what really makes you tick. See where you are. But it says, my God shall supply all your need according to His riches and glory by Christ. He knows He does not say, it does not say, but my God shall supply all your greed.

It doesn’t say he’ll supply everything you want. Says you need. And look in verse 13. In verse 13 he says, I can do all things through Christ which does what? Which strengtheneth me? So there’s things that God can do and work and so forth in your life and he will strengthen you. Now I want to close with this verse, look there in the book of Romans in chapter 8. Romans 8. Now if we had time we could look at the one in the book of Joshua chapter 1 and verse 8 where you have to decide what does it mean to have success in your life.

Success. Everybody has to define what is success to them. See some girls their success in life is just I caught the man. I caught him. I got him. I got him. I got him. I’m successful. Well, okay, you’re successful for the moment. And it doesn’t mean that you’re gonna be forever happy. I mean, we’ve all watched, you know, the cowboy right off into the sunset with a girl, you know, they live happily ever after. I think if you look around, it doesn’t always end up that way.

So there’s a lot of things that we have to learn. But you have to decide what a success Christ says that you serve be in honor me. He said, I’ll honor you. So there’s a way to win. Romans 8, looking verse 28, for we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. You know, none of these words in this verse are big and hard to understand. They’re all nice, simple, little, bitty words. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are of the call according to.

His purpose, that’s God’s purpose. God has a purpose in your life. God is working in your life. Heirect. He is either blessing you and sometimes the blessings can be a form of chasing because for a parent to chasing the child, that’s a blessing and time to come. And so God is in teaching and he’s instructing and he’s helping you to learn. And one of the thing God does is let us find out how miserable life can be without him.

how great it can be if we did serve Him. Now there’s another verse, but we don’t take time to look at that verse, but it’s the verse that’s in the book of 1 John chapter two and verse 25. And it says, and this is the promise that He hath promised us, even eternal life. God has promised us what? Eternal life when we trust Christ as our Savior. After we trust Christ as our Savior, and we’re God’s children, it is the will of God that we learn these other promises because it deals with life and after a while, you’ll be able to see and say, you know, God has been teaching me something.

God has taught me this. God taught me that. Boy, that was a lesson that I’ll never forget. And God is going to bring trials in your life and test ends in your life. And someone will become because of temptations in life. Bible says, we’reAMY like passion of all men. We’re all the same.ija. We all have a sinful nature. We all have a lustful nature. And we all crave sometimes the same things. We want fame, honor, power, glory. We want We want everything.

We want things of the world. And we have to battle all of that against the desire for spiritual things. And that’s why the Lord says, set your affections on things that are above, not on the things of the… So, God is working in our life. And I hope that you believe that God is working in your life, and to believe that. And notice that if I serve a Lord, God promised in His Word, God’s… God said complainant, he would bless me.

And that’s why I can stand up here today and tell you God has to, has to bless me.edom because he said that if answom and put him first ISI, he said he would. Then I have to believe that. And I don’t have to 379. You don’t have to live bool life in fear. He willRepeat me and never forsake me. And just like driving that car. You don’t have to drive it perfectly, but you try to drive as safely as you can.

And serving the Lord, you’re not always making the perfect decisions every moment, but when you realize I did something wrong, I can correct it. Because sometimes I turned a little bit too far and I got to turn it back this way and then sometimes I’m going too fast. I’m always driving too fast. Did you notice the faster you627 go the quicker you got to make decisions? Sometimes the quicker you make decisions, the more mistakes you can make. But then if you go too slow, then they’re going to kick at you because it’s not as if it’s 40 miles an hour minimum speed limit.

You got to go fast enough or get off the road. Have you ever got up behind somebody and said, get off the road? You ain’t got no place to go. You ought not to be here? Every time I get in the car, there’s always some little old lady getting in front of me and just poke along. And I’m in a hurry. I’m always in a hurry. And it’s like the Lord, I start laughing sometimes, the Lord put him there.

And they’ll slow me down. And then when they slowed me down, I get on down the road there about a mile or so and there was a cop sitting on the right hand side here and nailed me, he’d have got me. And I said, thank you Lord, thank you Lord. But of course I blessed out that woman for a mile. Now I’m glad y’all don’t do that. Y’all ain’t like that at all. Look up here, this hand represents you and me and the wallet represents sin.

We all have sin on us. God loves us. hates our sin because it separates us from the Lord. You know what I had a good time doing? You know, last Sunday morning, last Sunday morning, I got a girl that was here, the trust of the Lord. I just, I asked her a couple of questions. I asked her, I says, do you know for certain that you’re going to heaven when you die? She says, no, not real sure. I said, would you like to be sure?

Yes. Now this is already after I had given the gospel. misdemeanors. But she did, she didn’t catch it. She heard words. I said, coming to the office. I took her in the office. I explained to her. She trusted Christ to say to you, do you know anybody could have got her? She was wide open. She was just ripe fruit ready to somebody to pick. Last Sunday night, Cina brought a guy in here. And I asked him, I says, where are you going to die?

He says, I don’t know. I don’t know. So I gave the gospel last night and he was sitting back here, I never got a chance to talk to him, but he was the first one to raise his hand. I was out yesterday and I was knocking on some doors and I knocked on this one door. This girl, teenage girl, she came to the door and she said, she says my grandma was not here. I said, I didn’t come to see your grandma.

Oh, I came to see you. Oh. And another girl, she stepped out of the dark and came over there a little bit and kind of stayed back a little bit because she was shy. I asked her, what’s your name? And one was Kimberly and one was Ashley. I said, can I give you something I gave her a track and I said, do you know for certain where you’re going to go in your diet? Because it kind of shy because you know the other one was standing there looking at her and no, I’m not sure And I said well if you could be sure I said you got a minute I’m sending it to do I didn’t go in unless I know there’s a man there or the wife or something like that And I said I just didn’t write you I just want to explain to you.

So you got a minute. Yeah, I said you come on over here I can’t hardly see you she was peeking around the door She came over and I went ahead and pull out my wallet and explain it I says right now will you trust Christ as your Savior and they both said they trust the Lord So by trusting the Lord they can have eternal life and know they’re going to heaven time. See in all this other stuff all this other stuff It doesn’t mind the hill of means Whether you got your electric bill paid whether you got food to eat whether you got a that if that person dies they go to hell That problem is a lot bigger than any other problem we’ll ever have did you know that if you take care of these issues God take care of some of the other stuff things you worry about

God said I’ll take care of that you just do this and And most people’s problems because they won’t do that. If you won’t tell people how to have eternal life, you’ll have a lot more problems in life than you ever dreamed. Because see, you got to solve those problems because God said, you do this, I’ll take care of this. Put me first, sink me first. And they said, and all these other things will be what? Add it under you.

They’ll be taken care of. I’ll take care of that. But because, well, I ain’t got time. You know, it’s not, I don’t know how to do it good. those are excuses. That’s the whole water. We all get to heaven. That ain’t gonna cut it. God says, you do this. And I’ll take care of the rest of it. He says, he that, when it’s sold, receive wages. God’s, I’ll pay you for that. And I believe that. God will pay you to win souls.

And that pay is going to come from a thousand different ways, blessings that you never dreamed. Lord is good. Anyway, Christ, He loves us, hates our sin. And for us to go to heaven to have to have perfection and none of us are. And so Christ says that we need to save it. This hand represents Christ, He’s God in the Christ. He came into the world because He hates our sin, took it, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead and said if we’ll believe He did it for us, He would give us eternal life.

He put that payment to our account. We get to go to heaven on what He did for us. I believe that God’s people for this coming year ought to determine in their mind. I’m going to win more people to Christ this year than I did last year. At least I’m going to make it a 10. I’m going to witness. My goal when I was young, I was 22 years old when I went to Babakal. I decided in my mind, I want to tell people how to have eternal life.

And so for the last 40 some years, that’s what my goal is. And I believe that God will bless you because of it. Let’s pray, shall we? Our Father, we do thank You so much for watching over us and for blessing us, for the free gift of eternal life. And Father, I pray You will to be done in our lives and help us Lord as Your children to realize how important it is to trust You with all our heart, to believe the promises that You’ve laid down in Your Word.

And Father, for us to be the sole winners that we ought to be. One here, one there. Maybe not the masses, just one here, one there, and bless this Father. We thank you so much for being good to listen to our needs. In Christ’s name we pray. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear Gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771.

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

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

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the Internet. Your regular prayers and m- and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can And reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. One line 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. If you will, take your Bible and turn to the book of Psalms, a hundred and fifth Psalms. I’m not going to cover the whole song tonight, but I just want to get a couple of thoughts from it to share with you and then show you some things that really can help you in your life.

I believe people ought to focus on the future. Focus on the things that are ahead. Don’t look back. You can’t go back. You can’t change the past. But you can start today and make the right decisions of whatever it may be for you to have a better relationship between you and the Lord. What I want you to do is look there in Psalms 105 and verse 7, verse 7, look at this verse, says, He is the Lord our God.

His judgments are in all the earth. The word judgment here means that God has made decisions during the lifetime of man and is making judgments carrying out sentences, executing his divine justice. Now we know that one day it will be when we get to heaven and we stand at the job and say, the Christ God’s gonna reward us for what we did. So that’s a judgment, it’s a rewarding stand really. We know that there’s a great white throne judgment where God is gonna issue his everlasting decree about those who have never trusted him as savior and they’ll be cast into the lake of fire.

So that’s a judgment that is coming. But you and I sometimes lose sight of the fact that during our lifetime, God is still on the throne and he’s still making decisions. For example, when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, did God make a decision during the lifetime of man? Yes, he judged one sin. So one sin got him out of a garden. So what do they have to do in order to get back into it? Well, if one sin took him out, the only way they could get back is not to have any.

Think about it. If one sin could take them out of the garden, then that’d have to be perfect to get back in. And that’s exactly the way it is. That’s why no man can get into heaven or into the presence of God without being perfect. That’s why we needed to trust Christ as our Savior. But God made a decision. And that was doing the lifetime of Adam and Eve. But not only that. When he brought the flood was at a decision that God made and God executed His judgment in the earth because of what the people were doing, how they were living.

Yes, God made a decision. Wasn’t God actively involved whenever the children of Israel went down into Egypt? God’s the one that sent them there. And whenever they were there and they multiplied to two and a half million people, was it not God that worked in the lives of Moses down there in Egypt and bringing on these plagues and so forth and brought the children out of Egypt, God was actively involved. It was the Lord that raised up David to be the king of Israel and down the line whenever they disobeyed the Lord, God said he would send in the heat of the nations and they would whoop them and then Israel would cry out to God and he would bring peace in the land and then they would keep going into the cycle and that’s what you read in the book of Judges.

So as you go down through time, you’ll find out God has been actively involved in what’s going on. But unless you know the Bible and can see things from God’s perspective to you and I are the natural man, it’s like God isn’t busy. God isn’t doing anything. I mean it’s just like a dull, boring life and God is not God, he might have created it, but he even took a vacation and left us here to struggle through this thing.

I believe personally that God is personally involved in my own life. And you’re supposed to believe that in your life, that God has opened up doors, and you’re supposed to believe that God closes doors. You’re supposed to believe that God blesses and that God chastens. You’re supposed to believe all of that. Why? Because it’s taught in the Bible. Many people live their whole lives and never see the hand of God working in their life. He said, I will give them the land of Canaan.

A lot of your inheritance, this is what he did. Verse 12, when they were few in number and they were few, there’s only about 70 that went down in Egypt. Then in verse 14, he suffered no man to do them wrong. In other words, God would not permit anybody to wrong. them wrong. In other words, God would not permit anybody to wrong his people. You remember whenever they wanted to take Abraham’s wife and God intervened. God says, oh no you don’t.

You can’t have her. God protected. And you’ll find out that God was at work and God was making decisions and his judgments are in all the earth. And that even today you’re supposed to believe that God is working in your own life. Now only by reading and studying the Bible can you find out what He is doing. I see clearly now, or I should say more clear, looking back over my life and how God has done things, then I was back there looking forward because I couldn’t see nothing.

I had no clue where anything would ever lead. But now I can see how that Lord has used that illustration in my life and God used that problem and that problem and that problem and that trial and that experience and all these tests, I can see how all of that God has been able to use because I have been able to use those illustrations to put some salt and pepper upon the eggs. Make your life flavor. In other words, your life is not a dull, boring existence when you can see how God is actively involved in what’s going on.

But if you don’t see that, you don’t want to get up sometimes and face the day. Because you don’t see anything happening. We’re living in a time where there’s a lot of things that happen. I’ve got three emails this week from lawyers warning me about what’s going on in Washington because now we have some new people up in Washington with some new power and they’re trying their best to clamp down on people voicing their opinion about what’s going on in government.

And I was driving someplace and they were talking about how that they’re trying to shut down the talk radio because they’re conservative and they warned the people about decisions that they’re making up in Washington. So now they got about, they want to take and put a fine up on them that they can’t say anything about what’s going on in Washington. Now that is silencing a person’s First Amendment rights, the right of free speech. And it won’t just apply to them, but it’ll also apply to preachers.

And they said, I had two different lawyer groups that’s in us email saying to pray and seeing emails warning about how they’re trying to silence the preacher so that we can’t say what we want to say without being fine. We would get one year in jail and about five thousand dollar fine or something like that. It was on up there. Can you see that if they passed a law like that that I wouldn’t say what I think I ought to say?

You know what they’d be doing to me? They’d put me in jail. No, I ain’t done nothing to nobody. But I should have the freedom today that I had a year ago or we had 200 years ago, why did we have the same freedom? Who gave them the right to take away our right? They don’t have a right to do it. So it is the will of the American people or should be the command to them from the Constitution to defy the law that they make that prohibits us from enjoying our freedom.

That’s the last hope that we have as we learn how to say that word that nobody likes to say to government. No, no. I will not obey. The government is not my God. The government is not my God. The state is not my God. The God of this Bible, He is my God. And I will serve Him, and therefore, this is where I will stand, and if suffer the consequences, I must, then so be it. But what I want you to also see, He’s looking for 16 where he says, moreover, he called for a famine upon the land.

Who did that? God did. God’s when he called that famine. So why did Jacob have to send his sons down into Egypt? Because of what had happened, there was a famine. Well, who brought the famine? God said, I did that. Notice what else he said in verse 17. He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant, who sent Joseph? God says he did it. But notice Joseph in his family, he had all these brothers, these Levon brothers that hated him.

How would you like to be in a family and love it? I’m hate you. Have you ever been in a family where your brother or your sister, you know, just couldn’t get along? You just can’t you fight all the time? I had sick kids in our family. And most times if you got brothers and sisters, you do get to subscribe. But if somebody ever picked a fight on one of the other ones, then we all jump in and kill them.

We’d have a fight. It’s okay for us to fight against our own, but now don’t you pick on them. Now whenever it came to Joseph, all of his brothers turned against him. Did you know that they sold him to a caravan, the Ishmaelite going down into Egypt? But who’s the one that did that? God said, I’m the one that I sent him down there. God uses the wickedness of man to also fulfill as well. In other words, there’s things that’ll happen in your life and you don’t see that.

Joseph did not see that what he had done. What did he had done wrong? He can’t help he had those dreams. He had a dream and he told him this dream. And they said, who do you think you are better than we are and holier than we are and they got mad I’m get jealous because the daddy made him a coat of coat of many colors. So they got jealous and envious well Did God know all of this whenever he?

Gave that young kid these dreams with God knew all that did he know what his brothers were gonna? Yeah, and that caravan will come by to right time. You got to do that God said I sent him down there to get ready for y’all to come down here so they would have a place to live and grow as a nation for about 400 years. 400 years they were down there. God said, I did all of that. And see in verse 19, until the time until the time.

God said, I did all of that until the time that His word came. And then the word came Moses. Good honor and tell him Pharaoh let my people go. So God was actively involved. Now just because Joseph couldn’t see what God was doing, But God was born working and he had to trust the Lord. We don’t understand all this stuff. Oh we’re supposed to know as it is working and God is real and I want to be on his good side and not his bad side.

I want you to take your Bible look in Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs chapter 3 just turn to your right there a few pages. Proverbs in chapter 3. There are many many promises in the Bible, many promises of which God says that He will now be working and doing things. God can give guidance and also direction in your life. God does that. One of the greatest things that I have enjoyed over the years is trusting that God is guiding me, that God is direct.

That doesn’t mean I made all the perfect decisions. When you drive down the highway, Do you drive perfectly? I mean, when I’m driving behind the wheel, I mean I’m over this way and I’m over this way. Sometimes I even go across the line. Sometimes I’ve even gone off the road. But I try to keep it inside those things and drive down the road. You don’t have to drive perfectly, but you can stay in the side of the thing and you try to keep them getting hit and somebody from hitting you and sweeping and weaving and all that.

What have you got to do? But I managed to get the church every Sunday. I’ve been doing it for how many years. But I didn’t do it perfect. But I got here. You see, God can be directing you and leading you, but that doesn’t mean you made every decision, right? Because you’ll go this way and then you’ll decide to go this, and then your side and decide, decide, decide. All those are decisions, just like you’re driving a wheel. You decide to do this, you decide to do that.

Can God interrupt and close the door? God can do all these things. But that’s what God does. But I look there in Proverbs in chapter three, and look in verse five, verse five, where he makes this statement, trust in the Lord with all mine heart. That means with all of your being, everything that you have trust in the Lord. And give what he says, lean not. Have you ever leaned on something in a giveaway? I have. I’ve leaned on a poll and they give way.

I’ve leaned on a wall and have you give way. You can lean on people and they give way. But the Lord says lean not and get what he says. Lean not unto thine own understanding. Now what do you think that means? Think about it for a second. Don’t just read that verse. Oh, I know that verse. I can quote that verse. Think what it says. Lean not. He says, trust in the Lord. But when he says lean not, it means don’t trust your understanding.

Because the lean not is not to lean upon what you understand. Trust in the Lord means to lean on Him. Lean on Him. Trusting Him. So he says, lean not unto mine own understanding. Get in verse six. And how many of your ways? All of thy ways do what? All of thy ways acknowledge God. The word acknowledge me to think God. Think, think, in all your ways. Every decision you make try to think, before you act, think. One of the consequences of my decision.

Where’s this leading me to? So think God. Think about the Lord. And that’s why he says this. And all I raise, acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. Look at that last promise. Is that a promise? He shall direct thy path. When, when I get to heaven, I don’t need it then. Before I was born, I don’t need it then. I mean it now. So is God willing to work in my life now? Yes. And he says, don’t trust yourself.

Lean not until I don’t understand it. And all my ways acknowledge God and he shall direct thy path. So you suppose to believe that the Lord has got a path you and that you’re walking according to the path that he’s laid down. Get what he says in verse the first part of verse seven you ought to underline him. Be not what? Wise and thine own eyes. Fear of the Lord and look at those next three words. Depart from evil.

You ought to underline it in your Bible. Now when we talk about trusting the Lord lean not unto my own understanding and then when he says be not wise and thine own eyes, depart from evil. What do you think he means by that? Depart from evil. I would translate that as depart from evil. See how easy it is to understand the Bible? It’s not hard. It’s not complicated. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Hebrews chapter 13.

The book of Hebrews in chapter 13, way over there in the New Testament, Hebrews chapter 13, as you live your life and you can’t go back like I said but you have this year. This is a new year. It ought to be better than last year. Well it won’t be any better than last year if you don’t make the changes necessary for this year. And so in Hebrews in chapter 13, look what it says in verse 5, in verse 5, This has to deal with you and I living our lives, every day of our lives, believing that we are in God’s presence.

Do you believe that you are in the presence of God? Adam and Eve used to live in the presence of God. And then whenever they sinned, then he had to kick him out of the garden. And only by sacrifice they were able to have communion with God. Now look in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5. Let your conversation, that means your behavior, be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have, for he has said, I will never leave the norper safety.

Now understand what he’s saying here. Many people, their happiness, their joy is based upon what they have. They have a lot, well, I’ll be happy. If I don’t have very much, I won’t be happy. That’s not what this verse says. It says, be content with such things as you have. Be content. And the reason was the last part of the verse says, because you have not lost the most important thing. What are your priorities? Let’s just pretend. Look up here.

Here’s the Lord. Here’s all the things of the world. Which one should bring you the greatest joy, the Lord’s presence or all these presence? What would you rather have? Careful. And he says, you cannot lose me. He said, I will never forsake you and never leave you. I have him with me how long. Always. So if I don’t have this, I still got him. And if I got him, I got the best. He can give me everything else I need.

But if I have these and I don’t have him, I can lose these and still don’t have him. Get it? So it’s better to have him and be content with nothing. Because the greatest thing is to have the Lord. Because if I’ve got the Lord and he’ll never leave me and never forsake me and he promised me certain things, I can trust him to give me whatever I need. So many people they fall in love with their things and not the Lord.

So as you go through life, God is going to give you and pay from you because it’s testing whether or not are you completely satisfied if all you had was the Lord. That’s easy preaching and hardening living. I’ll tell you right now. Now look there in John chapter 14, the gospel of John and chapter 14. We’re going through life. We want to make sure as we go through life we have the most important essentials in our life to help us to do what we’re supposed to do.

What is the most important thing? Knowing the Word of God so that you can know the promises of God. God’s made a lot of promises to us. So there’s greater things that we can do. Look there in John chapter 14 and verse 12. Verse 12. He says, barely, barely, I say unto you. He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do, and you ought to on the line that word, also. Greater works than thee shall he do, because I go unto my Father.

Christ says, I’m going to my father. I’m going to leave you here. And I talk here mainly to his disciples. But there’s truth that we can learn from these principles that he laid down. When I leave, I’m going to let you have the indwelling Holy Spirit to live within you. And he will teach you comfort you, guide you, bless you, power you, whatever. And you’re going to do some mighty things. So, if it says here and greater works, shall you do, that’s future.

You should always look and dream and dwell upon the fact that, you know, God can use you in a great way. Always believing that your life doesn’t have to be a boring, dull existence. It can be as exciting as you choose to make it. Believe it that God is able to take anything in life and work it for His honor and glory, you may not see the full value of it until you get to heaven, but you can believe it now because it is now that it’s being done.

It’s being done by the decisions that you and I make at this time. When He makes the statement, works, greater works shall we do in talking about doing this in the future because He says, I’m going to my father, but there’s things I want you to do. You and I are supposed to believe God has a work for us to do. And the work that He has for us to do is greater than the work that we choose to do on our own.

Because there’s always things that we want to do, places that we want to go. But God says, if you will put yourself in my hands, I will bless you. Now let me give a simple illustration. used this recently, had a person from the audience come up and told that person says, a young lady, would you please come up here? And so the lady came up here and said, bring your purse. So she brought her purse. So she came up on the platform.

He said, now we’re going to pretend I’m the Lord and you’re my servant. You trust the Christ is your Savior. Have you dedicated your life to the Lord? Yes I have. And you want to serve the Lord? Yes I do. With all your heart. Yes I do. He says, so everything that you have you’ve given it to the Lord. Yes I have. Sounds good so far, huh? He says, give me your purse. So she put the purse up there on the podium.

He says, take out your money. He said, now remember you are going to go back to your seat, better off than when you came up here. Open up your wallet. So she opened up, she had a couple a couple hundred dollars now. He says, give me that money. He gave me the money. Thank you. I appreciate that. He says, I think I’ll just have your whole purse. Can I have your whole purse? Yeah. Thank you. He says, that’s a beautiful watch you have right there.

I want that watch too. Okay. Okay, take it off, gave me watch. Oh, that’s a beautiful necklace. I want that necklace. So she gave me the necklace. Oh, I like that ring you have on your hand. You’re married? Yes, I want that ring. You can’t have my ring. I want the ring. On and on. You can’t have my ring. She says, you have a husband? Yes, I got a husband. And you can’t have my ring. I’ll just take your husband.

No, you can’t have my husband. Well, wait a minute. I thought you said you would give everything to the Lord. Yes, but. And she began to kind of retract from what you were saying. And by the way, that’s a beautiful little daughter you have sitting back there. I want the daughter too. You can’t have my daughter. You see, it’s so easy to say words. I surrender all. They say that, you know, when there are two people who are fighting.

And finally the one says, I surrender, I surrender. Means that I surrender, means that I’m allowing you or giving you you can take from me whatever you want. But when you commit yourself to somebody, you’re giving to somebody what you want. What the Lord is that we give up to His will, whatever it may be. But what God does is set us free.

And so he wants us to voluntarily give to him everything, but if we have to surrender to him, it means that he’s free to take everything. So even though the Lord can take everything she has, the Lord wants you to surrender and to commit everything that you have and give it voluntarily. One is taking and the other one is giving. Now, in your Christian life, you have to make a choice. Do you want to give to the Lord? Or do you want the Lord to take from you?

Now remember when he takes from you, he can take a lot more than you was willing to give. He can take your very life from you. Did you know that Lord, whenever we work, we make certain amount of money, we can give whatever we want to give to the Lord. But the Lord is the one that has emplaced upon our hearts how much we should give. And if we don’t give what we should, did you know that God is free to do what?

Take all of it. chnology. Because you didn’t do what you should have done, with a little, I can take all of it. So as you live your life, can God take your help? If God gives you good health and you don’t use it for the Lord, can God take your help totally? Yeah. If you don’t use your job as an opportunity to serve the Lord and the witness and so forth and take a strong stand, then you know God can take away the job.

God can do all kinds of, God can work in our life and I can see the judgment of the Lord in all the earth. And there are some people that say, I’m just having a hard time. It’s just always hard. This is always, I know, but do you see God working? Can you see it? Maybe there’s something or some lesson God wants us to learn, something that we’re supposed to correct, but we don’t see it because we’re not sensitive.

We’re not really listening. We’re not really looking. We’re not really trusting the promises of God that He’s laid down in His Word. But anyway, look there in verse 13. In John 14 and verse 13, there is the promise of answered prayer because there’s times you’re going to have to talk to somebody. God will always see to it that you cannot always share everything with somebody. That would be great if somebody could always be there to deliver you from a devastating dilemma.

But sometimes you just got to go to the lower. So that’s what God wants. So look at verse 13, and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name. This is why we always say at the end of a prayer in Jesus’ name. We pray in His name. But it means more than that, it means that God we’re asking you to sign the check. I’m trying to make a withdrawal from heaven because I need something and God the Father won’t let me have it out of the bank unless Jesus puts a signature to it.

So we’re always saying, I need this. Lord, would you sign it? Would you okay then? You’re always asking Christ for permission to have whatever you’re asking because Lord, this is for your honor and this is for your glory. I need this because there are a lot of you. Now when you ask only to consume it upon your own lusts, it says, and Jamie says, then you’re asking a miss. But all that we ask from the Lord should bring honor and glory to the Lord.

Lord, I need a brand new pink Cadillac, like Elvis Presley had. 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. 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, 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, 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. 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.

So here in the 139th Psalm, it’s divided into 24 verses. In these 24 verses, there are four sets of six verses each. And each one of these six verses tells us something wonderful, but they’re a different topic. And yet they all relate back to the Lord. In the first six verses, we talk about the omniscience of God. That’s the wisdom of God. And in the next six verses it talks about the present, the omnipresence of God, how that God is everywhere.

And then in the next six verses it talks about the power of God. And then the last six verses talks about from the human perspective, how we are supposed to look at the Lord and life in view of God’s wisdom and in view of his power and in view of his presence. So I want you to look there in verse one. He says, O Lord, thou has searched me and known me. But you’ll notice that the word me is in italics.

It means it’s added by the translators to help the understanding of the verse. But he says, O Lord, thou has searched me and known me. But I believe that that word me, it should be known my heart. To To know me, yes, it means the same thing. But it’s that inner me, that real me. Not that one that everybody sees, that image that everybody projects to everyone else. But the reason for that is because in verse 23, look in verse 23, where he also says, search me.

Oh God, I know my heart. So you have the same phrase mentioned twice. One, he’s already done it. And then verse 23, he’s asking the Lord to continually keep doing that, keep searching me, because you see, it’s not a one-time deal. Like when I was 18 and I trusted Christ as my Savior, Lord, search my heart and know if there’s any wicked way in me, let me know so I can correct it. And then I never have to do it again for the rest of my life.

No. It’s something that we are supposed to do all the days of our life. like when he says, knock and it shall be opened. It means knock and keep knocking. Ask and you shall receive. It means ask and keep asking and seek. It doesn’t mean just one time seek and you shall find keep seeking. So all your life you’re asking and all your life you’re knocking all your life. You’re doing this and you’re asking the Lord to search your heart so that you can be honest with yourself, because it’s the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things, and who can know it, who can understand it, and if it’s not within man that walk up to direct his steps, then how is a man supposed to guide his life?

He could be so easily deceived. So you need to always keep a knowledge of the Word of God, pour in through your mind, always stay close to the Lord, always keep reading. And we mentioned this before. The book of Psalms is a book to help reveal to you and I all of our feelings. Because we’re not to let our feelings guide us, but we have feelings. We’re individuals who feel we have moments of despair, we have trials and testings, and we get deal with the motions of all kinds.

And we have Indian and bitterness sometimes and we have joy and praise. All these combinations. Well, the book of Psalms expresses how we feel because someone else has already gone through what you and I have gone through or will go through. And that’s why when you read the Psalm that makes your heart warm toward the Lord. Of course when you read the book of Proverbs, it’s to make you wise to seek the wisdom of God in a few words If you want to do something with your life Yes, then you read the book of Acts because it’s a history of what happened in the lives of people who put all of that into practice But now notice what he says in verse one He says Thou have searched me and known my heart In verse 2, thou knoweth my down sitting and my uprising, thou understandeth and underline

these two words. Because we see in verse 1 it’s my heart, me. In verse 2 it’s my thoughts. He says here in the book of Isaiah, he says that our ways are not his ways, our thoughts are not his thoughts. His ways and his thoughts are higher than ours. They’re of a different caliber than ours. So that’s why if you want to raise the caliber of your life, you have to raise the caliber of your thoughts. The word of God is to teach us how to think.

So you can think in a divine way and not just the human way. But notice what it says in verse 4, give me verse 3, Thou compass my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. My ways means all my actions. So you have here in these first few verses because of the omniscience of God that’s talking about how that God knows everything, but nobody else knows and can’t figure out, but it’s God that can look into the heart of man and know your heart knows why you do what you do.

He knows your motives. And he says, he knows your heart, he knows your ways, your actions. And he knows your thoughts. Look what he says in verse 4, for there is not a word in my tongue, but, oh Lord, they’ll know it all together. They’ll know it all together. God knows everything. We should be convinced of that because this is the reason why we should never, never try to hide anything from God. When you do something that’s wrong, don’t think for a moment God didn’t see.

God does see. God knows everything. And this is why He wants you to confess things to him because it is a way of you recognizing of missions of God means the wisdom of God and all these matters because you believe that. And when he makes a statement in verse 4, he says, for there is not a word in my tongue. Verse 4 talked about my words, my words, my tongue. And so whether or not it’s my heart, my thoughts, my ways, my actions, my words, God, Noah, all things.

And God says in verse 5, He says, Thou hast be set me behind and before and laid thy hand upon me. That phrase laid thy hand upon me. I underlined it in my Bible. I remember years ago, listening to various preachers and they’d say, God laid His hand upon me. Well, God laid His hand upon me. And I believe God has laid His hand upon you. And God has ordained you to live a certain way. We find that in other scriptures.

God hath ordained you, anointed you. God has given to you the Holy Spirit in the earth anointed you. He has laid his hand upon you and there’s a certain way that he wants you to live. A certain way he wants you to think. Certain words he wants you to say and not say. God wants to control your life. He wants to control my life. That is the will of God. Then he says here in verse six, he says, My understanding as a human individual, he says, such knowledge is too wonderful for me.

He says, It is high. I cannot attain unto it. You and I in this life will never totally attain the knowledge that we would like to have in understanding all of this stuff about God. But we’re supposed to understand that God understands all of it about us. So though I don’t know everything about God, I am to believe He knows all about me. And I am to live my life all the time seeking the Lord, asking God not only to know all these things about me, but to find a way, find a way God to reveal it to me.

But if God is going to reveal something to you that you need to correct, does God have a right way to tell you without you being offended? Can God tell you something through someone else without you falling apart and getting mad at the source of the information? That’s tough. That’s rough. But if your heart is right, you won’t mind what source it comes from. You won’t mind what avenue, what person God seeks to use. Because God is not just to know those things about us.

He says search me and try me and let me know if there be a wicked way in me so I can correct that All right, how’s he gonna do it? You know there’s sometimes if a husband has to tell the wife something. There’s no right way he can do it It won’t matter how he does it. There is no right way to do it. Think about it for a moment Sometimes if the man is doing something wrong and the wife tries to correct them There’s no right way for her to do it Why because she’s afraid to say something to him because I don’t know how he’s gonna respond Every one should be able to say something to someone because they love them without fear of an explosion, without fear of a war.

Simply because you know that person loves me and that person is telling me because they care about me and they ought to be able to say whatever they need to to me without me losing it. Look what he says now. Now in the next six verses, verses seven down to verse 12, these verses talks about something else. It talks about the omnipresence of the Lord, talking about how that God is everywhere. You see there in verse seven, whether shall I go from the spirit or whether shall I flee from by presence.

If I ascend up into heaven, up into heaven is an extreme. There’s five extremes that are mentioned here. And one is the height. You can’t get any higher than wherever heaven is. You can’t get higher than that. Because he’s talking about the presence of God and where is He? He is everywhere so an extreme would be the height. Well the other extreme would be the depths. And he says, if I ascend into heaven, thou art there. If I make my dead in hell, behold thou art there.

Can’t get any higher? Can’t get any lower. Those are extremes. If I paint the wings of the morning, and in the wings of the morning when the sun comes up that’s looking east, When they talk about the sea, they always talk about looking toward the Mediterranean, the great sea looking west. So you can’t get an extremity further than that. East, west, two opposites, as far as it can go. He said, where can you go? You can’t escape God. He says in verse 9, if I take the wings of the morning and and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea.

Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me. That’s an extreme, the absence of light. Even though we know and believe that with light we can see all things, and light is to reprove, to help us to see things. But we also think that darkness covers a lot of things. A lot of sins are done at night because nobody sees. Nobody can know what’s going on.

But God can see through the night just as good as He can in the day. And the extremity of darkness, which is the opposite of light, cannot hide you from God. So he makes a statement here in verse 11, if I say surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light about me. Yea the darkness hideeth not from thee, but the night shyneth as the day. In other words with the Lord there is no night. He says the night is just like the light.

So God sees everything. He’s everywhere. He knows all. There is no reason why you and I should not worship somebody like that because of the wisdom that he has. I remember when I was talking to an atheist one time at the University of Miami, he says, I don’t believe in God. I said, well, I do. And I said, I believe that God is everywhere. He said, I don’t believe there’s a God. I said, well, wait a minute. You ought to be able to go everywhere and know everything.

Because if there’s anywhere that you haven’t been, could be where God is. Can you go everywhere? He said, no. I said, and not only that, you have to go everywhere and be everywhere all at the same time. Not that you can check on this planet and that planet and that planet and that planet and that star and that galaxy. No. You got to cover him all at the same time because when you go to this planet, he might sneak over to this planet.

You go to that planet. He might sneak back over to that planet. I said, no, no. You got to be everywhere at the same time. Can you do that? So you are a fool to say there is no God when you can’t prove there is no God Because they always want me to prove that there is one I said you prove there isn’t and I says not only that I said you have to be able to know everything that’s knowable Because if there’s anything that you don’t know might be the knowledge of God So before you can intellectually say there is no God you ought to be able to be everywhere at the same time and know everything that’s knowable And I says, you don’t qualify.

So you can’t intellectually state there is no God because you really don’t know there is no God. He didn’t like that. That’s okay. But I believe there is a God and I believe that the world that God made is the evidence of it. He says the darkness and the light are both alike to the. Now verse 13, down to verse 18, gives us the verses that talks about the omnipotence of God. This means the power of God. You see it’s one thing to know everything.

It’s one thing to be able to be everywhere but to have all the power that there is. Omnipotent, all powerful means there’s no power in the world, anywhere if it doesn’t come from God. God is powerful. And so He makes a statement here in verse 13, for thou hast possessed my reigns. That means you controlled me. Before I was born, you were in control. You’re the one that brought me life. You’re the one God that took my body in that mother’s womb.

And God, you’re the one that formed that body. No man can be born without God, without the power of God to do so. Evolution is not true. The Bible is true and there is a true and living God and He makes this statement here in verse 13, Thou has possessed my reign, Thou has covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. That’s the power of God. There might be somebody looks like you somewhere else in the world but you are still one of a kind.

Nobody is exactly like you. Nobody is exactly like me. But he says in verse 14, I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right. Well, that last statement, my soul knows that. Whenever you look at this world and you look at your own body, when you look at life, you go down here whenever our little baby is born and they have those little babies there and you got two people that just brought a baby into the world and got no clue what’s going on and say that is a miracle.

It’s an awesome it’s a miracle and you’re different and you’re unique and a God who has all the wisdom in the world made you you didn’t make yourself you’re not an accident you didn’t just happen, but with the knowledge of God. When he makes a statement here in verse 15, my substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest part of the year. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet been unperfect, that means not complete.

And in thy book, all mine members were written, which is continuance, were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are in your underlinedeth, thy thoughts unto me. See, God knows my thoughts, but his thoughts are about me. God has to think about me to see and know and everything about me and understand my heart and know what I’m going through and how I think and how I feel and how I hurt. See, sometimes people don’t always understand you.

It’s hard sometimes for the husband to understand the wife. We just don’t understand everything. Be patient with us. The wives don’t always understand. patient with them. Kids don’t always grasp it. They don’t understand everything. We live in a sinful wicked world. And so we need to give each other a kind of a little slack. But God, He knows everything and look how merciful He is to us. How precious are the some of them. In other words, God thinks about us.

God, He loves us. He knows us. And And these verses talking about the wonderful power of God. If you didn’t have wisdom, you wouldn’t know how to use the power. But God knows how to use it. He’s everywhere at the same time. So he automatically knows how to take care of us in every situation. He knows everything that’s coming down the road. When he makes that statement of prayer about before me and behind me, see in verse 5, thou hast to be set me behind and before.

He knows everything in advance ahead of you and everything behind you. That’s wonderful to know. See, there’s three other things that mentioned here. See there in verse seven verse seven talks about the spirituality of God and Verse seven where there shall I go from by spirit God is a spirit and must be worshiped in spirit and in truth But that’s God, but that’s what he is and when you understand the the wisdom of God that then you understand about God is a spiritual Individual whenever you trusted Christ as your Savior you were made a spiritually alive individual You were given the Holy Spirit, brought into his family.

Look in verse 17. In verse 17 it talks about, I believe, the love of God because of his thoughts that are toward us. God thinks about you. I believe God thinks about you every day, every day. Every moment of every day God thinks about you. There is no time when you’re not on his mind. There’s times in my life when I don’t think about God. I get busy doing some other things, but I don’t believe that God’s ever so busy that He’s not thinking about you and what you’re doing and where you are.

And He wants to talk to you about things. And I believe it hurts God when we get so busy doing so many things that we have no time for God. We’re going to have problems. We’re going to have aches and pains. We’re going to need surgeries. Did you know that God never stops looking at you? Never stops thinking about you. God loves you. And his thoughts toward you, as he says here, how precious they are, how great is the sum of them.

It means a lot of them. Not just once in a while. I believe it’s all the time. How can God have a moment that he doesn’t think about me? At moment he’s not thinking about me. At that moment he’s not looking at me. Might be the moment I need to help more than any time in my life. No, he never forgets. If I could count them, they’re more than the sand. How many grain of sand are there? How much must he think about us?

And in verse 19 about the holiness of God. Look in verse 19, surely thou will slay the wicked, O God. Depart from me, therefore ye bloody men. God is so holy. The day will come that God will take all those that are wicked, that have rejected him, and there will be cash into the lake of fire. But also, it breaks the Psalmist’s heart, because I believe it was written by David, because of the people that are in this world that do not love God.

I hurt not only for the lost man that’s never heard the gospel or won’t trust Christ to say, that hurts me. But it also hurts me when I see other people treating their heavenly father in an ungodly manner. That breaks my heart when I see God’s people that don’t love their father enough to be faithful to their heavenly father. That hurts. And whenever David says, I hate them that hate them as a human individual, it should bother you, but not everybody loves our heavenly Father.

I don’t like it when I hear people using his name in vain, cursing God, asking God to damn somebody. I’ve never said those words in my life to an individual, and it bothers me when I see people that have such little respect for God’s Word because of who he is and what he’s done, how great he is. And then they can live in such a way that brings shame to him. Their lives don’t reflect that they love the Lord.

Their lack of dedication, their lack of faithfulness, there’s a shame and a disgrace to the God that’s done so much for us that thinks about us so much that loves us. You see these last six verses talk about in view of all of that. What kind of a person should I be? What do I want God to do? I want God to use His wisdom to search me. I want Him to understand me. And I want God to always be where God can influence my life.

I want him to influence me through whatever means possible. If it has to be through an illness, a sickness, a hospital, a doctor, a friend, an enemy, whatever it takes for God to communicate with me, so be it. Because that’s more important than me living a carefree life down here and no communication with my Heavenly Father in either direction. I believe it should be. Search me in verse 23. Oh God, and know my heart. Try me. Test me. See if I’m for real.

And know my thoughts. Whether they’re about God. You know whenever he makes a statement in Proverbs in chapter 3, trust in the Lord with all by heart, not to by own understanding. In all my ways acknowledge him. acknowledge him, that word acknowledge him means thank God. And all your ways think about God. What does God want? What would God want? And he shall direct thy paths. And verse 24, and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

Leave me in the right way. So I want God to see it and to reveal it. and to have the power to influence my life in whatever way possible. Sometimes you may live your life and not really see the hand of God in your life. Well remember that verse up there that talks about that we are in his hand. He says, and laid thy hand upon me. I wouldn’t want to live. Well, I believe in that God has laid his hand upon me for something special.

I don’t want to be like the normal average individual Joe Blow that lives his life for himself. You should want to do that which God wants you to do to be different, to love the Lord with all your heart. And God will bless you because of it. Look up here. God loves us. He hates our sin. Were you and I to pay for this sin, and we ought to pay for it, we committed it. And God says that since we committed it, we have to pay for it.

It’s eternal separation from God in hell. But He loves us. He wants us to go to heaven and to go to heaven. We have to be perfect because righteous is God and nobody’s perfect. Nobody is. We’re all sinners. No man can go to heaven because He’s good enough. We committed a sin we ought to pay for, and that payment is dead. sin represents Jesus Christ, he’s the Lord, is God in a flesh. He came into the world because he loves us, he hates our sin, it separates us from him.

So what Christ did for one person he did for the whole world, he took all their sins, paid for them to cross and came back from the dead. And God said that if you and I will believe that he did it for us, he did it. And only those who believe it, that he did it for them, will God save and give him eternal life and they get to go to heaven. Now if you don’t believe he did it for you, then God can’t save you and you can’t go to heaven.

But eternal life is the gift of God. It’s not a works listing in Manchin’ Most. That’s price challenge. 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, and 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 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 Calbra Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the Internet. Your regular prayer prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You 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.

You see, when you stand in the waters of the picture of Christ on the cross, when you go under the water is a picture of your burial. When you come up out of the water is a picture of your resurrection. So being baptized is not a picture of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because anybody can do that for him. But it’s a picture of your death, yourLibreal, your resurrection. Because I believe He did it for me.

And this is an outward picture of what I internally believe. I believe that Heifferently did that for me, that He died on that cross, that He was buried, that He came back from the dead. And so when you’re placed under the waters, a picture of your burial. And when you come up out of the waters, a picture of your resurrection. And in the book of Romans in chapter 6, it talks about that we have been brought from the dead that you and I, as a child of God, might walk in newness of life.

So baptism is a very important part of the Christian testimony. You see, and I’ll show you this later, the great commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, There’s also the great command. Now I want you to take your Bible look there in the book of Acts and chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. Paul and Silas been preaching and got into some trouble and so they were thrown in jail. So while they’re in jail midnight, they decided to start singing an amazing grace and a few songs.

And so while they were there singing in prison, there was a problem. There was a little like an earthquake. Verse |– there was a great earthquake. Here he says in verse 27, And the keeper of the prison, awaking out of sleep, seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself. Supposing that the prisoners had fled. But Paul cried out with a loud voice saying, Do thyself no harm? all here, then he called for a light and springing and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas.

And in verse 30 he says, and brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? What do I have to do to be saved? This is a perfect chance for them to really say what you have to do. So he asked the question, he ought to get a decent answer. Look at the answer. It says in verse 31, and He said, you must be a member of Calvary Community Church, pay 50% well inflation, you know.

That’s not what He said. He says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn’t say anything else He had ever done to be saved. 49 years ago in a little living room, that’s all I did. I believed Christ died for me. If He died for me, then I don’t have to. If He paid for all my sins, then I don’t have to pay for them. He said, but what about all those bad things you’ve done? I don’t have to pay for them.

Well, that don’t sound right. I know it don’t. That’s grace. Grace is unmerited favor. God will save you and give you eternal life as a gift because he loves you that much. It’s not because you deserve it. You see, in the back of our minds, we still think that people deserve to go to heaven and there’s people that deserve to go to hell. I’ve got news for you. We all deserve to go to hell. None of us deserve to go to heaven.

And I don’t care how long you’ve been saved. You still don’t deserve to go to heaven. It was because of God’s grace. It’s a gift. It’s free. He loves us that much. He go to all the world and preach this good news to every individual. That’s somebody good news, but look at the last part of the verse. He says, and thine house. He means if your house believed, they can be saved because you can’t get there without being saved, without being, believing.

And then notice what he said. In verse 33, he took them the same hour of the night washed their stripes and was baptized. He and all his straight away. In other words, his whole family heard the gospel. His whole family believed and his whole family got baptized. Isn’t that good? You see, they didn’t get baptized to get saved. They got baptized because they were. They believed it. And he says, if you believe, what does hinder me from being baptized?

If you haven’t believed, you can’t get baptized. I don’t care, a preacher can dunk you every day of your life or the rest of your life, and it’s still not been baptized because you can only get baptized one time. And that’s when you really have trusted Christ your savior. I can say, well, I was baptized when I was eluted and I was 15 years old. I was sprinkled on, but I did not believe. Only a believer can be baptized.

So all these so-called baptism that people have had over the years, if you never trusted Christ as your Savior, you got wet, but you didn’t get baptized. And it wasn’t a picture of your death and your burial and your resurrection because his death and burial and resurrection is not put to your account till you believe he did it for you. So yes, after I trusted Christ as my Savior, I was baptized at the Northside Baptist Church. I baptized a lot of people over the years.

All kinds of strange things can happen. And in one year it was in the wintertime, and I had about, I don’t know, 10, 15 of them that I had to baptize. It was freezing outside. The church was nice and warm and toasty. But the deacons forgot to turn on the heater for the baptistry, just put the water in. Well, nobody knew it. So I got on my, change of clothes, I was going to the thing, all the people out there watching, I broke there, and I started down in it and when my foot hit that ice water, it was ice water.

And I realized it’s too late now, there’s no turning back. I went down into that water and the coal kept creeping up. If you ever touched the water in this little cold and you got to get in a little bit inch by inch, well if I’d have done that it would have took all day. So I went on in there like nothing was wrong and I stood there and I looked at the people and I said, they could not see me up close.

I was freezing and I looked up there and they had the ladies on one side and the guys were on the other side and saw I would take and rotate them, you know what? And so they came down there. When that girl, when her foot hit their water she goes, people thought this church has got the spirit. I said, this is just a little tippy. She said, she came down and I want to. Now, whenever I do it, I always take them back.

And then I bring them up. You know, when the ice cold, well, she got ready to take her breath of air. You know, I’m fixing to take her. But she thought I was going to go forward. So she got prepared to go. And I went, and so when I took her back to her, took her under the water, I could still hear her holler on the water. I didn’t keep her there long. It was the fastest baptist I ever did in my life.

And when I brought her up she came up glorishly. Everybody was like, they didn’t know we had cold water. They just thought, this is really, you know, the spirit’s moving. The spirit’s moving. Well, one girl, she found out about it, and then was Stephanie. She went and she got on her from clothes. She had on sweater, she had a hat on, she had a coat on, she was totally bundled up. And I thought water will never touch her.

You know, clothes weigh more when they’re wet. I almost didn’t get her up. But it’s still a great experience. It’s a great experience to know that I am having a picture taken of what I inwardly… and we believe. And then you know what? It’s a great thing to do because it’s the Word of God. It’s what God will. It’s the first step of obedience. Every child of God, if you trusted Christ as your Savior and you have not been baptized, I would not want to face my God been disobedient in that thing He called me to do.

He said, because this is a testimony to everybody else. I believe this and this is a picture of what God wants me to do. How were they baptized? Well some people believe it’s by sprinkling. Is this being baptized? Being baptized is your planted in the likeness of his death and you raise him up out of the water. Acts 8 and verse 38. And look what he says here. In Acts 8 verse 38 says, and he commanded the chariot to stand still and they went down both into the cup of water.

No, they went down into the water both Philip and the unique and he baptized him and When they were come up out of the water The Lord caught him away So they went down into the water and he baptized him now. I’ll be honest with you If this was acceptable, why did both of us got to go down in the water? But there’s preachers that tell their people this, and they believe that their child is safe because he’s been baptized.

And a child grows up thinking, well, I’ve been baptized as though that’s some kind of a security blanket that I can hold and trust in like it did something for me. It did absolutely nothing except give false hope to the parents and to the child. You will not find in the scriptures where anybody was baptized other than immersion. It’s not in there. The word poor, it’s mentioned once. Sprinkle mentioned four times and it has to deal with the blood three times in the book of Hebrews.

So yes, it’s in there. when he talked about being baptized talking about immersion and it is a picture of the death barrel in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Take your Bible and look there in the book of John chapter 3. In John chapter 3 and look there in verse 22, verse 22, he says, after these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea and there he carried with them and baptized. And John also was baptized in an anon near to Salem because there was much water there.

Why would you need a lot? Listen, I can baptize everybody in this church with just this cup. If that’s acceptable, if you could wash away your sins with just some water, why did Christ have to go to the cross and die and shed his blood. It’s a mockery of truth. Look what he says there in chapter 4 of John and look in verse 1, when therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not.

If you have to be baptized to be saved and Jesus baptized not, Jesus didn’t save anybody. His disciples baptized, but he didn’t baptize. And if you have to be baptized to be saved, then Jesus never saved anybody. Isn’t that ridiculous? I think you get the point. But what does it represent? The death, burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Look at other Scripture, read to me before I close. In the book of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, and look at the Scripture.

How do you think God feels when people are saying things that God didn’t say? and ruin it and causing people to have a false hope. There’s denominations that say you can’t be saved if you don’t get baptized in water. Think about it for a moment. Did the thief on the cross? Christ said to him, today shall thou be with me in paradise. He didn’t get baptized. He couldn’t get down from the cross. He didn’t have to go to church.

He didn’t have to change anything, stop anything. But look what he says here in 1 Corinthians 1. I want you to look what he says in verse 15. The Apostle Paul is speaking here. In verse 14, I want you to look in verse 14. He says, I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Christmas and gay is. If you had to be baptized to be saved, it seemed like Paul would be saying just the opposite. I see it’s not true.

Look what he says in verse 15. And I baptized also the household of Staphonus. I know not whether I baptize any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. So preaching the gospel and being baptized, not therapize the same thing. Because I can preach the gospel and people can be saved, but being baptized, that’s a different issue altogether. So you can hear the gospel and be saved, because look what it says in verse 18.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perishfulness, but unto us which are saved is the power of God. So you can be saved by the preaching of the gospel, and baptism is not a part of it. It’s part of the command, but it doesn’t save the soul. Now look there in Matthew in chapter 28. This is what we call the great commission. Verse 18, and Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. So the great commission is a great command. They were commanded to go, to give the gospel and it commanded to baptize and if they were commanded to baptize then the people that trusted Christ’s Savior are commanded to be baptized. Yes or no? Can you see it? Clear as a bell.

So if God gave you a command and you don’t do it, is that obedience or disobedience? It is a step of obedience for a child of God. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, it is an honor to be baptized. To knowing He died for me, and He was buried for me. And He came back out of the water, out of the grave, for me. And this is a picture of what I inwardly believe. And God says that He wants every one of His children to do it.

Now, if you don’t get baptized and you never tell me, I’ll never know. I won’t know it. I’ll treat you the same whether you were or you weren’t. And if you have trusted Christ as your Savior and you know you’re going to heaven when you die, being baptized in water is not going to help one eye odor your salvation. If you don’t, it’s not going to keep you out of heaven because going to heaven was a gift. That was free.

God loves you that much. But if God says, I want you to do this, but I’ve never argued with God. I don’t fight with God. Whatever God wants. I just do it. Just do it. Now, let me show you something. You hear this morning. And if you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, I want you to trust Him. I want you to understand it. Now this hand represent… You and me. The wallet represents all the bad things that we do.

It’s our sins. And the Bible says that God loves us, but He hates our sin. Because see, our sins have to be paid. Since we committed the sin, we have a debt. We have to pay for it. Wages means I earned the right to pay for it. I did it. The wages of sin is death, eternal separation from God. So everybody in this room has earned the right to go to hell, but not one person in this room has ever earned the right to go to heaven.

But we’ve all earned the right to be eternally separated from God because we’ve all sinned and consured of the perfection of God. You see, heaven is perfect. There’s no sin in heaven. And God is perfect, and heaven is perfect. is perfect. And because of sin, see we can’t get in. So God says that you cannot save yourself, you can’t get there by what you do. So all of our goodness, regardless of how good they may be, God says theywhile they’re filthy rags.

And that you’ll never be good enough to go to heaven because that’s a perfect place. And so that means you’d have to be perfect here in order to get there. a bear. And you don’t know anybody like that. So God says you cannot save yourself. Solopp athlet goaltDetect stop being bad, you’re going to start being goodizabeth. I’m going to get baptized Ben Baptist, yes, all those are good things, but they don’t get you to have them. There’s a death payment that God only accepts.

Now this hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord, God in the flesh. Jesus Christ came into the world, see he’s perfect, he has no sin, so he doesn’t have to die. God can’t die. So he came into the world and God used Mary to prepare him a body in which he would live in. And in that body he would grow up and be tested. and everything you and I were tested in and failed. And he would obey perfectly all the rightistic demands of God’s law.

And in those 33 and a half years that he lived, he never sinned, never broke a commandment, pleased the Lord in all things. There was no fault in him. He did not have to die because of anything that he’s done. All of us, yes we do. We deserved that. He did not deserve to die. So because of his love for us, he could become a substitute for us. He would take our sins. And he took all the sin of all the world upon himself and died on the cross.

He was buried and came back from the dead. And God says the only thing you and I can do is to believe because you can’t be saved by your works. He said, but if you’ll trust this payment, he made. See when I say, will you accept the payment he made? Christ was the payment. You’re accepting Jesus Christ as your payment for your sin. And so by doing so, he gives to you as a free gift eternal life. you get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for you.

There’s no tricks to it, there’s no gimmick. Now, if I offered you my wallet and you accepted you’d have an empty wallet, if I offered you this microphone and you accepted you would have a microphone, well, if Jesus Christ came in here and offered you eternal life and you accepted what would you have? life. And if it’s eternal life, it would last forever. And if it lasts forever, and all you’re saying is, where would you go when you die?

The heaven. So can you know that you’re going to heaven before you die? Yes. I have known for 49 years. I’m a little bit older than that. 49 years I know I’m going to heaven when I die. Is it because I’m good? It’s not because I’m good. It’s because he’s good. He loved me. He paid for my sin. Well, he did the same thing for you. All, only thing I ever did to go to heaven was to trust Christ as my Savior.

I believe he did it for me. And God said, if you’ll be lead it with all your heart, not trusting anything else. You don’t trust you. You don’t trust the church. You don’t trust The preacher. I can’t get you there. You don’t trust your good deeds. You must trust Jesus Christ in him alone. And he said he would give you as a free gift ever lasting life. And if it’s everlasting life, how long would it last forever? And that lasts forever and all your sins are paid.

Where would you go when did I? You get to go to heaven whenever you die. Now, that’s a gift that’s free. Once you trust Christ as you’re saving, you believe that? It might be same day. It might be a week later. It might be a month later. It might be a year later. It might be ten years later. You might decide, I need to be baptized. I think it’s the heaven, but because you’re going there and it’s a step of obedience.

Don’t let the devil rob you of something that’s wonderful and sweet and precious because it’s an obedience that you know I did what my father wanted me to do. I’m his child. I am not ashamed. With his bow nice clothes and no one looking around, friend I have tried my dead level best to explain this critical issue as best I can. It grieves me deeply when there are so many that trust in their infant baptism as though it has something to do with saving them and getting them to heaven.

I know that there are a lot of people that say, well, I am going to heaven because I was baptized. Nobody is going to heaven because you were baptized. Did you trust Christ as your Savior? Did you believe he died on that cross that he paid for your sins? Will you trust him and him alone? Is your only hope of going to heaven? For in just a moment, I’m going to ask for a raise your hand. Raising your hand doesn’t save you.

But I’d like to know what I said made sense. I don’t know no way to do it except just by asking you. But I’m going to ask you in just a moment to raise your hand to let me know if you will accept Jesus Christ this morning as your Savior. I’m not asking you to join the church, not asking you for money, not asking you to change your life, not asking you to be a religious hypocrite, I’m asking you to be honest and say something like this to the Lord Lord, I’m a sinner.

I’m a sinner. I cannot save myself. And I hear and understand and believe with all my heart that Jesus Christ died on that cross and paid for my sins. That he was bearing came back again from the dead. And I believe he did it for me. And I will accept him right now as my only hope of going to heaven and pray to God, I’d like for you to pray for me. Would you just slip in it very quickly and put it right back down?

Is anyone involved? This one is saying, yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior and I’d like you to pray for me. Just slip it up very quickly and put it right back down. If you’ve already trusted Christ to save and you don’t have to do it again. But if you’ve never done so, would you trust him? I’m not going to embarrass you, point you out. It’s over and done with you when you make that decision. God knows who you are.

Know that you’re trusting him. And we’re all before the Christ. If you have trust that Christ is your savior, talk to the Lord of God in bad times. Not because you have to, but because you want to. It’s a step of obedience. 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 us toll free at 1 800-576-3771. One-line donations may be made through the Bible-lined website at calbryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I have a very interesting message, I believe, this morning. I don’t want you just to listen. I want you to see it in your Bible. So make sure you follow me in the scriptures. So turn in the Bible to the book of Matthew in chapter three. It is very, very important to know what God says about an issue. Because how are you going to know what position to take, whether you should do this or not do this, if you don’t know what God says about it.

And you don’t want to just do something because, well, somebody says you should. Or because the preacher said it, do you have to be baptized in water in order to go to heaven? Now, a lot of people say yes, some people say no. In verse one, in those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken about the prophet Isaiah, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord, make his path straight, and the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and the leather girdle about his loins, and his meat was locust and wild honey.

Sounds like real macho man, don’t he? Then went out to him, Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the regions round about Jordan. So he went to the river Jordan, and he was baptizing. In verse 6, and were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and the Sadducees come to his baptism, he said to them, Oh, generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come. for their for fruits, meet for repentance.

And think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our fathers, for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children and to Abraham. And now also the acts is laid into the root of the trees, therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is you down and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear and shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the gourner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

That’s a lightning bolt. A man shows up on the scene and lo and behold does something that nobody’s been talking about or doing anything about for over 400 years at least because God had been silent from the Old Testament to the New Testament. And all of a sudden this man shows up on the scene and he’s the forerunner of Jesus Christ. And he says, get your house in order, the Lord is coming. Make straight your paths. Get ready. Get right.

So he goes to the river. Jordan and people will come in from all around to be baptized by John in the Jordan River. Do you have to be baptized to go to heaven? But look what he says in verse 11. He says, I indeed baptize you with water. So he baptized with water unto repentance. So what does that mean? If they believe the preaching of John the Baptist, they were to be baptized in water. Look what else he says, but he that cometh after me is my ear than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to be.

He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. So John baptized with water and Jesus is going to baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire. somebody says, I want to get the baptism of fire. You can have it. Now, fire here in the baptism of fire is not the one you want. Stop and think about it. Would you like to be baptized in fire? Just think about it. Does it sound warm to you? Look what he says there in the verse 12, who spanned his in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor, gather his wheat into the goner.

That’s the wheat. But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable what? Fire. The chaff is not what you want. There’s believers and there’s unbelievers. One group will be baptized by the Holy Spirit. One group is going to be baptized in fire. Which one would you like? Well, enough said. I already know which one did your other have. And so John the Baptist laid it on the line. He preached hard. In Mark chapter 1, pretty much the same thing as said here.

But I want you to see this. In verse three, you had pretty much the same thing that was said over there in the book of Matthew. Verse three, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord, make his path straight. John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. The baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. You see how some people can get the idea that you have to be baptized in order to go to heaven.

So that looks like that’s what it says. But when he said that he also made the statement of here in verse 8 again, I indeed baptize you with water, but he that he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. So there’s two baptism that are mentioned in the book of, a three over there in the book of Matthew, but here just the two. Baptism and fire is not mentioned here. What do I have to do? Now here in the book of Acts in chapter 19, and look there in verse 1, it came to pass, the wall of Paul was at Corinth.

Paul, having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus, finding certain disciples. He said unto them, have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? They said unto him, we have not so much as heard, whether they’re being any ghost. He had no idea what in the world they’re talking about. So he says in verse three, he said to them, under what then? Where are you baptized? So baptism is unto something, it’s to illustrate something, it’s a picture of something.

But what was it? So when John the Baptist baptized, what was it for? What was it unto? What was the purpose of it? What was it a picture of? Well, it did illustrate. There has to be a reason, and it should be simple. So he says, under what then were you baptized? They said, under John’s baptism. So we remember when John baptized, it said it was the baptism of repentance. Look in verse four now. Then said Paul, John, barely or truthfully baptized with the baptism of repentance.

See it’s still there? But we know he baptized with water, because he said it several times. Sayin’ unto the people. Now this is what John the Baptist said to the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. So John the Baptist preached that they were to believe on the one that was to come. And that water baptism was a picture that you believed on him. You say, I believe on him.

Then they were baptized in water. Now being baptized in water is not what saved. I’ve done a lot of weddings, and they usually hire a photographer to any of them, and all the pictures to be looking pretty. I have never seen yet where the taken of a picture has ever married anybody. It’s only a picture of the wedding. It is not the wedding. It is not the marriage. It’s only a picture of it. Water baptism is a picture of something.

John says, I’m baptizing you in water, but he that come up after me is going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit. So the water baptism was the picture of the Holy Spirit baptism because Paul just asked him, he says, have you received the Holy Spirit? So we haven’t even heard. Well, what was your baptize for? Well, just John’s bapt. Otherwise, they didn’t get the store. They didn’t get the whole picture. And so it says, area in verse five, when they heard this, they were baptized.

I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Acts in chapter eight. The book of Acts in chapter eight. Philip had been involved in a evangelistic campaign. It was doing real good. A lot of people trust in the Lord. A lot of activity going on. And the Lord says, I want you to go talk to this guy. So in other words He left a revival, took off across a desert, went about 100 miles, and he’s running along and he catches up to this guy in a chariot.

And I mean, here you go. Isn’t it amazing how God can bring that together in the middle of a desert? He didn’t have GPS. But if I walked up to him, he said, hey, do you understand what you’re reading? He says, how can I, unless some man should guide me? And so he says here in verse 3, and he said, how can I accept some man should guide me? and he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

And the place of the scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter like a lamb dumb before her shear, so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away and who hath declared his generation for his life is taken from the earth? And the unique answer to Philip and said, I pray the of whom speaketh the prophet this, of himself or some other man. Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him, Jesus.

So the man was riding along, he was reading from the book of Isaiah, and he didn’t understand what he was reading. He said, do you understand? He said, I don’t understand what I’m reading. Let somebody could guide me. So I’ll sit there and explain to him this scripture that you’re reading in the Old Testament written 700 years before Jesus Christ came. And this is what it’s about. and he explained to him the good news of how to have eternal life, how to be saved, how to know that you’re going to heaven whenever you die.

And so he explains him, you cannot earn eternal life, you cannot work, but you cannot buy it. It’s only by accepting the payment Jesus Christ made and that Jesus Christ was led as a lamb to the slaughter. He did not defend himself and he allowed them to do whatever they wanted to. He was cut off out of the land of the living. Who shall declare his generation? He had no wife, he had no children, and who can claim the throne of Israel if Jesus Christ, who was the only one, the last one, who clad the right to claim to be the king in Israel?

Israel will be forever without a king, unless the king comes back. Evidently somewhere along the line, he had to explain to him about being baptized in water. So he says here in verse 35, He says Philip opened his mouth and began the same script and priests at the hem Jesus and as they went on their way They came under certain water and the eunuch said see here is water What does hinder me to be baptized? What would be the thing that would keep you from being baptized?

Because not everybody can be baptized that you can be dumped in water But scripturally, you can’t be baptized unless you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and died on that cross and paid for your sins. And you have trusted Him as your only hope of going to heaven when you die. So baptism is only for believers, only those who believe something. You have to believe. Look what He says. In verse 37 Philip said, if thou believe us with all vine heart, you may.

So the only key about being baptized is you have to believe. Do you see why it is totally impossible to baptize infants? Because they’re not at the place where they can believe. It gives a false hope and the child has only been sprinkled with water, but that child has not been baptized. Baptism is only for believers, only those who have trusted Christ as their Savior. You must believe He did it for you and you believe it with all your heart.

And you’re trusting Him as your only hope of going to heaven. You can’t be saved because you trust in your good works to get you to heaven. Good works won’t get you there. That’s why Christ died and paid for all the sins of the world so that you could by faith accept him as your only hope of going to heaven. And notice what he says. He says, and he answered and he says, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

And talking about Jesus Christ being the Son of God, you’re talking about his divinity. Who he is, he is God in the flesh. And I believe it. And he told him about the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ because that’s all taught in Isaiah 53, the chapter that he was reading. So he understood about the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And he was baptized in water. And that is a picture of what you believe.

You see, when you stand in the waters of picture of Christ on the cross, when you go under the water as a picture of your burial, when you come up out of the water is that a picture of your resurrection. So being baptized is not a picture of the death, barrel and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Does anybody can do that for him? But it’s a picture of your death, your burial, your resurrection. Because I believe he did it for me, and this is an outward picture of what I internally believe.

I believe that he did that for me, that he died on that cross died on that cross that he was buried, that he came back from the dead. And so when you’re placed under the water, it’s a picture of your burial. And when you come up out of the water, it’s a picture of your resurrection. And in the book of Romans in chapter 6, it talks about that we have been brought from the dead that you and I, as a child of God, might walk in newness of life.

So baptism is a very important part of the Christian testimony. You see, and I’ll show you this later, the great commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature is also the great command. Now, I want you to take your Bible look there in the book of Acts and chapter 16, Acts chapter 16. Paul and Silas been preaching and got into some trouble, and so they were thrown in jail. So while they’re in jail midnight, they decided to start singing an amazing grace and a few songs like that, you know.

So while they were there singing in prison, there was a problem. There was a little like an earthquake. 26, suddenly there was a great earthquake. Here he says in verse 27, and the keeper of the prison awaking out of sleep. Seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself. Supposing that the prisoners had fled. But Paul cried out with a loud voice saying, do thyself no harm. We’re all here. Then he called for a light and sprang and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas.

And in verse 30 he says, and brought them out and and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? What do I have to do to be saved? This is a perfect chance for them to really say what you have to do. So he asked the question, he ought to get a decent answer. Look at the answer. It says in verse 31, and he said, you must be a member of Calvary Community Church, pay 50 percent inflation. Well inflation, you know That’s not what he said He says Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ He didn’t say anything else he had to do to be saved Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you see that’s all that I’ve ever done to be saved 49 years ago in a little old living room.

That’s all I did I believed Christ died for me me. If he died for me, then I don’t have to. If he paid for all my sins, then I don’t have to pay for them. He said, but what about all those bad things you’ve done? I don’t have to pay for them. Well, that don’t sound right. I know it don’t. That’s grace. Grace is unmerited favor. God will save you and give you eternal life as a gift because he loves you that much.

It’s not because you deserve it. You see, in the back of our mind, we still think that people deserve to go to heaven, and there’s people that deserve to go to hell. I’ve got news for you. We all deserve to go to hell. None of us deserve to go to heaven. And I don’t care how long you’ve been safe. You still don’t deserve to go to heaven. It was because of God’s grace. It’s a gift. It’s free. He loves us that much.

He’d go to all the world and preach this good news to every individual. That’s somebody good news. But look at the last part of the verse. He says, Andine house, it means if your house believed they can be saved because you can’t get there without being saved, without believing. And then notice what he said. And verse 33, he took them the same hour of the night, washed their stripes and was baptized. He and all his straight away. In other words, his whole family heard the gospel, his whole family believed, and his whole family got baptized.

Isn’t that good? You see, they didn’t get baptized to get saved. They got baptized because they were. They believed it. And he says, if you believe, what does the hinder me? From being baptized, if you haven’t believed, you can’t get baptized. I don’t care. A preacher can dunk you every day of your life or the rest of your life, and it’s still not being baptized because you can only get baptized one time. And that’s when you really have trusted Christ your Savior.

I could say, well, I was baptized when I was a luteum and I was 15 years old. I was sprinkled on, but I did not believe. Only a believer can be baptized. all these so-called baptism that people have had over the years. If you never trusted Christ as your Savior, you got wet, but you didn’t get baptized.

And it wasn’t a picture of your death and your burial and your resurrection because his death, burial and resurrection, is not put to your account because you believe he did it for you. So yes, after I trusted Christ as my Savior, I was baptized at the Northside Baptist Church. I baptized a lot of people over the years. All kinds of strange things can happen. And in one year, it was in the winter time. And I had about, I don’t know, 10, 15 of them that I had to baptize.

Well, it was freezing outside. The church was nice and warm and toasty. But the deacons forgot to turn on the heater for the baptistry, just put the water in. Well, nobody knew it. So I got on my change of clothes, I go into the thing, all the people out there watching. I broke it and I started down in it and one of my foot hit that ice water, it was ice water. I went, hoo! And I realized it’s too late now, there’s no turning back.

I went down into that water and the coal kept creeping up. Have you ever touched the water in a little coal and you got to get in a little bit inch by inch. Well, if I’d have done that, it would have took all day. So I went on in there like nothing was wrong. And I stood there and I looked at the people, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, they could not see me up close.

I was freezing. And I looked up there and they had the ladies on one side and the guys were on the other side and saw I was taken and rotated me on. And so they came down there. When that girl, when her foot hit their water, She goes, people thought this church has got the spirit. I said, this is just a little t-shelly. She said, she came down and I want to… Now, whenever I do it, I always take them back.

And then I bring them up. You know, when the ice cold, well, she got ready to take her breath of air. Ha! You know, I’m fixing to take her. What she thought I was gonna go forward. So she got prepared to go. And I went, and so when I took her back to her, took her under the water, I could still hear her holler under the water. I didn’t keep her there long. It was the fastest baptism I ever did in my life.

And when I brought her up, she came up gloriously. Everybody was, they didn’t know we had cold water. They just thought, this is really the spirit’s moving. Well, one girl she found out about it, named was Stephanie. She went and she got on her from clothes. She had on sweater. She had a hat on. She had a coat on. She was totally bundled up. And I thought, water will never touch her. You know, we’ll close way more when they’re wet.

I almost didn’t get her up. But it’s still a great experience. It’s a great experience to know that I am having a picture taken of what I inwardly believe. And then you know what? It’s a great thing to do because it’s the Word of God. It’s what God will. It’s the first step of obedience. Every child of God. If you trust that Christ is your Savior and you have not been baptized, I would not want to face my God.

Been disobedient in that thing He called me to do. He said, because this is a testimony to everybody else. I believe this. And this is a picture of what God wants me to do. How were they baptized? Well, some people believe it’s by sprinkling. Is this is this been baptized? Being baptized is your planted in the likeness of his death. And you raise them up out of the water. Acts chapter eight and verse 38. And look what he says here.

in Acts 8, verse 38 says, and he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the cup of water. No, they went down into the water, both Philip and the Eunuch, and he baptized him, and when they were come up out of the water, the Lord caught him away. So they went down into the water and he baptized him. Now I’ll be honest with you. Why do both of us got to go down in the water?

But there’s preachers that tell their people this and they believe that their child is safe because he’s been baptized. And a child grows up thinking, well, I’ve baptized as though that’s some kind of a security blanket, but I can hope and trust in like it did something for me. It did absolutely nothing except give false hope to the parents and to the child. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents all the bad things that we do. It’s our sins.

And the Bible says that God loves us but He hates our sin because see our sins have to be paid. Since we committed the sin, we have a debt. We have to pay for it. Wages means I earn the right to pay for it. I did it. The wages of sin is death, eternal separation from God. So everybody in this room has earned the right to go to hell, but not one person in this room has ever earned the right to go to heaven.

But we’ve all earned the right to be eternally separated from God because we’ve all sinned and consort of the perfection of God. So God says that you cannot save yourself. You can’t get there by what you do. So all of our goodness, regardless of how good they may be, God says they’re filthy rags and that you’ll never be good enough to go to heaven because that’s the perfect place. And so that means you’d have to be perfect here in order to get there.

And you don’t know anybody like that. So God says, you cannot save yourself. So it’s not by going to church. It’s not by giving money. It’s not by promising to stop being bad and you’re going to start being good. Or I’m going to get baptized. See, is going to church a good thing? Yes, been baptized? Yes. All those are good things, but they don’t get you to heaven. There’s a death payment that God only accepts. And He took all the sin of all the world upon Himself and died on the cross.

He was buried and came back from the dead. And God says the only thing you and I can do is to believe. 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, we will be changed, hot up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and everyday, believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.