Bibleline Radio Show – 2009-07-14

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

So cherish me, O God, and pass, Till my trophies at last I made love. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom, a ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Declaring God’s love through radio and the internet. Providing real answers to an ever-searching world. To reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep Bibleline on the air in your community, dial toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771.

Thanks for joining us. This is Tom Perry for Bibleline Ministries, our current teaching series is on the Book of Matthew. If you have not yet trusted Jesus, we encourage you to do so today. Please visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org for information that can change your eternity. We pray that you will come to trust Jesus as your Savior and be saved to the glory of God. We hope that you will join us for this first by verse study of the Book of Matthew as we explore topics such as the parable of the fig tree, Jewish authorities plotting to kill Jesus, the great tribulation, and more.

If you miss any of the teachings in this series, then please call our Resource Center at 1-800-576-3771. for Dr. Lynch from teaching for today as we turn to the book of Matthew chapter 6. Verse 20 says, but lay up for yourselves treasures where? In heaven, where neither moth nor rust of corrupt is there any rust in heaven? Apparently not. It says, where thieves do not break through and steal. What’s the crime rate in heaven? Zero. Nobody is stealing in heaven.

And the point of all this is it says in verse 21 for where your treasure is, there will your heart be what? God wants us to be focused heavenward and if our treasures are there that’s where our minds will be because people usually are thinking about what’s important to them and if your treasures are earthly then you’re focused on all your earthly treasures and if you’re focused on heavenly treasures and your focus is on heaven. Hold your finger here for one second look if you will over to Colossians Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians chapter 3, page 1264.

I love this passage. Page 1264, Colossians 3 verse 1, If you then be risen with Christ, which every believer is, were crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, risen with Christ, if you then be risen with Christ, Colossians 3 1, seek those things which are what? Above. Where Christ siteth on the right hand of God, so it’s pretty specific as to where we’re to set our affection. Verse 2 says, set your affection on things what? Above, verse 2. Not on things on the earth.

Verse 4 says, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory. These are great verses. So in order, I think to God, to get us to look up, He wants us to lay our treasures up in heaven, where our focus will be toward heaven. So where your treasure is, then will your heart be also. So as believers, we’re to be laying up treasure. How do we do that? As we use of our time and our talents and our treasures for God, God is gonna reward you.

There’s nothing you do, the least and most insignificant thing that you do for God. God is gonna bless you and reward you for it. So no matter what you do in life, if you get up in the morning and say I want this day to count for God. Just for simple things like reading or praying, being honest and doing your best when you go to work for somebody to do a good job, to be a good employee. All of those things are testimony for Christ.

How do you represent the Lord? I got some feedback on our people that went to the Oana basic training and they said, boy you had a wonderful group that well represented you. feedback is coming over across the bay from that. So it was nice to hear that. So Ginger, I don’t get to tell you that. But I’ve heard, I guess it was just a blanket statement. I just thought we, some people called me and said, you had a great group over there.

Anyway, that’s a good thing to hear. But it’s a compliment when you represent your church or the Lord and people recognize that. Verse 22 says, the light of the body is in the eye. If therefore that I be single, the whole body shall be full of light. So I was talking here about having a single life for the Lord to have your eye focused. So you’re looking to learn and to glorify the Lord, and your eye is focused on those values and on heavenly things.

Verse 23, but if your eye be evil, then the whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? So if you don’t have an eye for spiritual things, and a lot of people, spiritual things don’t mean a thing to them. thing to them. And they don’t seem to see them as very valuable. But we should be having a focus that has an eye for the things that are pleasing to God.

Verse 24, No Man can serve two masters. Either he’ll hate the one and love the other or else he will hold the one to despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon, which is money or the love of money. So the love of one crowds out the other. So we need to choose. Are we going to live for God and focus on heavenly things? Or are we going to focus on the world and forget about heavenly things? Verse 25 says, Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body, what you shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body more than rainmen.

Here’s talking about don’t worry. That doesn’t mean that you don’t do your responsibilities, but you trust God to supply your needs. Behold, verse 26, the fowls of the year, they so not do they do they reap. An interesting picture of it. Ever seen birds on a little tractor plowing the field, planting bird seed, harvesting it, bringing it into the barns, packaging it in bird seed boxes and so on. You never see that. But the Lord’s got a sense of humor, I guess.

He says, behold, the fowls of the air. They so not, I just see that picture in my mind. I think these little birds out there on tractors planting bird seed. I was telling somebody when I came back from Italy, I said, you know, the most interesting thing I saw was all those tall ladders against the trees and the migrant spaghetti pickers pulling the spaghetti off the trees. Somebody believed me. And I’m not. I better make it clear that spaghetti doesn’t grow on trees.

So a couple people say, really? I thought I just went up and just plucked the spaghetti off the trees. All right. Verse 26, behold the fells of the earth. They so not needed to do. They reap neither did they gather in barns. Yet your heavenly Father feed of them. And aren’t you? Are you not better than they? God obviously sees you of more worth than they. Verse 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to a stature?

You know if you’re short and you want to be taller or if you’re taller and you want to be shorter You know we really can’t impact those things except you ladies put these high-heel shoes on it jack you up a little bit But otherwise we really can’t do much about our height We are stuck with you know the way we are and and hopefully you realize that God created you that way for a purpose in that he had your best in mind.

It says in verse 28, and why take you thought for arraignment or clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they don’t twall, neither do they spend, they don’t try to work at making special garments for themselves. And it says in verse 29, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon, all of his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Can you imagine Solomon, the rich king that he was, How many war robe closets he had?

How many sets of clothing he had to wear? Probably never wore the same outfit twice. And oftentimes, you watch those TV problems about the rich and foolish. I mean, they’re rich and famous. It’s been awful lot of money on clothes that maybe they don’t even wear or only wear once and they pitch it out. But here it says that, look at the lilies of the field. God sees that they are beautiful. and none of Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Verse 30, wherefore, if God clothed the grass of the field, which is today and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall not he much more clothe you, O you of little faith. Therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed. For all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. God knows your needs and he doesn’t want us to worry.

But if we’re doing what he wants us to do, he’ll take care of those needs. And here’s the key verse in verse 33, seek ye what? First, the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things, which are the material things that we need in this world, shall be added unto you. So seek first. Too often people put God as a last resort. When everything else fails, then they turn to God. How many times has somebody come to me?

After they’ve lost their job. Or after they’ve gone to jail. Or after they’ve had a divorce. Or after they’ve had some serious problem. A death. And the Bible says, seek ye first. And we need to look to Him first in our lives. Seek ye the kingdom of God first in His righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you. You’re listening to Bible Eye, a teaching ministry that’s dedicated to delivering the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There are many items available from our Resource Center, such as Dr. Hankelyn Strom’s DVD Teachings on the topics of Repentance, Faith Without Works, and the Rapture, in addition to many others when you call 1-800-576-3771. Now we’re going to take a break from our teaching to listen to Dr. Lindstrom answering questions from callers and then we’ll rejoin today’s teaching. We’re going to go to Ron in D’Lane, Florida. Over on the east coast of Florida, D’Lane, Florida. We welcome you, Ron.

You’re on the air. Good morning. My quickness and I was pointing out to him in the new road translation of all the contradictions. Even when I showed him what it says, I don’t know where to get this from, that John Fox 7 was inserted in verse that it was not in the original manuscript. That comes really from two manuscripts that are in the custodial care of the Roman Catholic Church and I don’t trust them that are older but these verses are missing.

So they assumed that they were, since the other manuscripts we have are a little bit more recent. We’re not talking about the time here, but what we’re talking about in the 4th century is when we date back the Vaticanus and the Sinaiticus. Actually the manuscript called the Sinaiticus was actually found in the trash room of the St. Catherine’s monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai. I’ve been there. I’ve walked through St. Catherine’s and I’ve climbed to the top of Mount Sinai twice and it’s a spectacular event.

But I believe it’s not reliable. It’s not a reliable manuscript. They threw it in the trash room because they were obviously things that they accidentally omitted and did not copy in. And I think this is why our problem is, the 44 emissions are based on the fact of these old manuscripts, which by the way nobody’s ever really seen the originals. The Roman Catholic Church has produced copies and sent them out, but we can’t say that anybody’s ever verified that the copies are just like the original manuscripts that are in their custodial care.

So I don’t believe that. And I think that those verses do belong in there and should not be omitted. Okay, and I agree with what you’re saying. But it balances out when you look at it and change names because you see proof of it in other places, right? Oh, of course. There’s so many verses that support the Trinity that you don’t need for John 5’7″, but it’s a Satan’s attempt to try to attack the Godhead, to attack the deity of Christ, to attack salvation by faith, to attack all the major doctrines of the Bible.

all under assault today especially as we near the return of Christ because Satan is going to do all he can. He’s going to be scrapping and fighting with everything at his disposal to try to put down the truth and we’re seeing it happen. Okay and I agree with that because although admitted verses are usually an attack on Christ like Matthew 18 and 11 all these are usually attacks on Christ. like they’re omitting you know random verses that does not attack the under the area of Christ absolutely absolutely and you keep going i agree i agree okay run i’m so glad you called him today and i’m glad you’re listening over there in daland florida and thank you for your call we’re gonna talk to joney in the Pittsburgh area of pennsylvania welcome joney to bibel and you’re on the year yes totally oh totally i’m sorry it’s not on my screen joney so i thought it was a

I’m sorry about that. I wanted to ask you about, I think it’s in John, and I did, it’s about a full reward. And what I was going to ask you, okay, unbelievable. Is their punishment is greater like a believer to be more greater? Well, yeah, believers can earn rewards and some will have more rewards than others, obviously. And so it depends upon what you do. First Corinthians 3-8 says, every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.

So, depending on what you do for the Lord will determine the degree of reward you’ll Heaven Heaven. Okay, that’s the same way with unbelievers, right? They will also receive a degree of punishment in hell based upon their work. So those that are more evil and have done horrendous deeds plus those who have rejected greater light will be worse off in hell. They’ll receive a greater degree of punishment. And I was listening to your prior list of the end of it.

It was very interesting program yesterday but I didn’t really get you a fan of a person that’s trying to attain this cell-facing by work they might not have it. Well absolutely if you’re trying to be saved by your works you won’t be saved at all it says in the Bible that the gospel is made void if you had any works Galatians 221 is a favorite of mine it says I do not frustrate the Greek word frustrate There means the thwart to nullify the cancel to make void to make of then effect It says the grace of God because if righteousness comes by works then Christ died in vain So Paul was saying if you had any works, then you don’t why trust Christ?

Okay, what if I but head and then they can They can get into bad teaching then and later go astray, but it once you’re saved you’re saved forever but I believe that. But when anybody doesn’t have it right, is if they’re adding works to Solation, I have to assume they probably not saved it all. Because I would hate to assume otherwise, and then let them go to hell without confronting them and telling them, look, you’re in trouble, because if you’re trusting in your works, you’re probably not gonna be saved.

But if they were already saved, they would still be saved. Okay, cause you know, a lot of folks, if you talked to them and I heard one guy talk, after world-hollers you get paid and i believe it safe and work and i would tell i was that what i’ve counted dane’s now i got to be quite alone amen you’re absolutely right it’s not faith and works for salvation no because christian life is all about works but uh… to be saved we simply trust christ because i know one time you were sent out got your video about invite christened to your heart but it’s many times i was told folks that they have thought that you know ask god to come into your heart and i was wrong and i think when you said that they’re after lord i trust you by face you have that many i think man

think about how many people are witness to and ask them to after lord the right in your heart and you were saying why we can want to come into because the bible for that heart is that for wicked amen and that they’re not going so much for me out you know i mean i’ve been under a lot of bad people you have a heard of a path in a barber yes i have what you think about his feet i haven’t heard very much i’d i’d somebody sent me a tape and i listened to it and what i heard was pretty good okay thank you and listen to have a great one tony and thank you for coming in okay i would be defeated that’s uh…

tony and uh… pittsburgh pennsylvania We have Danny waiting in St. Petersburg and Danny, welcome to Bibleline you’re on the air. So I just wanted to tell you I really enjoy your show. I am 42 years old and whenever there’s a problem that arises in my life I hear the same on TV, on the radio, and talking with people. That’s almost as if God is speaking to me directly. It’s just been an amazing thing. But one thing that’s troubling me, I’ve been married for 15 years and my wife and I got I think late teens, early twenties.

And I read about that in the Bible a lot as far as that being considered troubling to I feel that we are small mates and being that she was so young. I was just wondering what your input on that was. Well, I wouldn’t spend time worrying about that. It’s not an ongoing sin. It was a sin when it was committed, if it were. But if you get saved in the meantime, which you say you have, I don’t know about your wife, but you get a brand new beginning.

It’s like a brand new start. You know, it’s a new birth and a new beginning. And so just scratch everything that happened before you were saved and start all over. And I don’t know if that was true for her, but in any case, you can’t live in the past. The Bible says, for getting those things which are past, Paul says, I press forward toward the mark in the high calling of Christ in Philippians chapter two. So forget those things that are past.

Don’t let those things drag you down. The devil would love to keep you trapped in your past. and God wants you to move forward into your future. So I would put that out of your head. Thank you very much, Dr. Lindstrom. That’s very reassuring. I read that daily. It’s just it can be weak and that just and reenie it over. Well, it’s wonderful. And of course, it says here in that verse Jesus said unto them, verily I say unto you, if you have faith and doubt not, you shall not only do that which is done to this victory, but alsoarent even to this mountain be thou removed and thou shall be cast into the sea and shall be done.

Yes. Okay. Thank you very much, Dr. Lindstrom. keep listening and I really really enjoy it. You know what’s interesting about that verse though is it doesn’t talk about any mountain. Jesus said this mountain. He’s talking about the Mount of Olives. And obviously when we pray according to the scriptures or scripturally we can count on the answer and guess what? That mountain is going to be removed as the prophecies tell us in Zechariah 14 for example when Jesus comes back in his second coming, his feet will touch on the Mount of Olives.

And the Mount of Olives will split and half of it will be removed to the north and half to the south and a great valley will be created where the Mount of Olives presently is. So this mountain referring to not just any mountain, you can’t just be driving down the highway and say, Lord, I want that mountain over there removed. It’s not going to happen. But the mountain that Christ was talking about, the Mount of Olives, will be removed.

And as we pray for things that are prophesied and are within God’s will, we’re going to get yes answers. You know, that’s why it says, Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem. One day Jerusalem will be at peace and it will be when Jesus comes, the Prince of Peace. And when Jerusalem comes to be at peace, then the whole world will come to peace because when Jesus comes back, He comes back to the city of Jerusalem and brings peace to Jerusalem and Isaiah says his peace will flow like a river to the ends of the world.

So the whole earth will become at peace. Once Jerusalem is at peace and we need to pray for Jerusalem. Right now it’s not at peace. I was just there a couple of months ago and obviously as we left some radical Muslim went into a Yeshua school for young men that want to become rabbis and killed eight of them before they they were able to overcome and kill him. Tragic things like that are happening in Jerusalem and around the world.

And one day the earth will be at peace, but it’s when Christ comes back. But peace begins at Jerusalem. So pray for the peace of Jerusalem. It’s really a way of praying for the peace of the world and nanny, we appreciate your call, and that’s a great verse. And as we, faith is not just a blind thing. It is, faith is really built upon fact. and it’s trust and based upon the facts of God’s Word. His Word is reliable.

It’s always come to pass in the past and will always come to pass in the future. We hope that you’re learning with us. As you listen to this question and answer segment featuring Dr. Hank Lindstrom, if you’d like to hear today’s program again, then please visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org. There you’ll be able to replay today’s program in our audio archives, as well as access other resources, including articles on a variety of topics written by Dr. Lindstrom. In addition to many other resources in our online store, it’s time for us to take a short break now.

When we return, we will continue this question and answer segment and then hear more Bible teaching from Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Don’t go away, Bibleline will be back in a moment. To pledge your support for Bibleline, Give us a call at 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Well, if you have your Bible open, turn if you hold a 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 3. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 3. And it says here, but I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety.

This is talking about what happened back there in the garden. and the serpent is Satan and he beguiled Eve that was Mrs. Adam through his subtlety. And it goes on to say here, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. You know, one of the things that is interesting is that one of the major objections, The true gospel message that I hear over and over and over again is people will say, that’s too simple.

I’ll never forget as a brand new believer witnessing the people and they would say that and it bothered me and it offended me and I became defensive. But you know now when I hear it, it’s good music to my ears because that tells me they’re hearing their understanding the true message. because it is simple. And the Bible tells us here that Satan would actually use the fact that it’s simple to actually cause it to be a stumbling block for people so that they wouldn’t believe on Christ as Savior.

In other words, Satan would use the fact that the message is simple in order to cause a person not to believe. Isn’t that something? Boy, the devil is clever. He is subtle, isn’t he? So when somebody says to me, when I present the gospel to them, well, that’s too simple. simple. You know what I like to do? I like to reach out my hand and say, congratulations! And they say for what? For understanding the true gospel. The fact that you said it’s too simple tells me that you’ve understood it because you’re objecting on that basis that it’s simple and the Bible says it is simple.

And when I heard how simple it was to me, I said that makes sense. It must be the truth because it rings clear. It is simple. It’s It’s understandable and that’s what the gospel is. Basically that we’re all sinners. We’re all deserving of hell The payment for sin would be death or separation from God and hell that there’s no way we could save ourselves that our works Will not pay for sin that we needed to save you Jesus Christ is that Savior?

He came and died in our place and paid our sin debt and full so that when we trust him We receive the very righteousness of God imputedCatal our account. Isn’t that great? Well, that is the best news that anyone is ever going to hear in their entire life. And I hope that you understand that it is simple. It says right here, I fear this is 2 Corinthians 11, 3, lest by any means as the serpent be giled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

It is a simple, simple message. You know, there’s a second objection to the true message of the gospel, and that is people say, well, I can’t buy that because that would mean you could live as you please. Well guess what? It’s true that no matter what you do, once you trust Christ the Savior, that you would still go to heaven, but you really can’t live as you please because once you trust Christ, God becomes your Father and you become his son or daughter and he’s going to discipline you.

That’s what it says. this one down. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 6 says, for whom the Lord loveeth, he chases ineth, that means disciplines and scourges every son whom he receives. In other words, everybody that is received into God’s family by the new birth, by trusting Christ the Savior can no longer live as they please, because they have a heavenly Father who knows everything that they do and he’s going to discipline you if you get out of line. So you cannot live as you please.

Look at verse 8 of Hebrews chapter 12. If you be without discipline or chastisement, where of all that is every believer, everyone who is brought into the family of God by the new birth are partakers, then it says in his very strong word in the King James here, you’re a bastard and not a son. What does that mean? It means that you’re You’re claiming to be a Christian when you’re not. If you can get away with living as you please and God doesn’t interfere in your life, guess what?

You’re not saved. You know, if you’re not saved, God does not interfere in your life as to how you live it. Why? Because you’re not his kid. You know, when I was raised at home as a little boy and I got in trouble and my dad would discipline me and I would say, Dad, this is not fair. Look, there was three or four other guys here involved in this thing. Let me bring them over and you can discipline them too.

And he said, no. He said, I’m only going to take care of you. You’re my kid. And their parents will have to take care of them. But he did not discipline the neighborhood kids. My dad only took care of disciplining me. We’re so glad that you’re listening today. And I hope you’ll be ready now for the second half hour. We’re going to rejoin stations that have been on break. Get ready for the second half hour. Would you like to help Bibleline continue in your area?

You can. Just pick up your phone and dial 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. And now back to Bibleline. Welcome back from the break. We hope that you’re learning with us as you listen to Bibleline and hear real-life questions with scriptural answers from Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Please, make plans to join us and open your Bible as we also present in-depth studies covering a variety of biblical topics. Now, let’s return to our question and answer segment and then you’ll hear more Bible teaching from Dr.

Hank Lindstrom. We’re going to go to Lake Worth, Florida. We have Tim on the line and Tim, welcome to Bibleline you’re on the air. Good morning, Dr. How are you? Good. Okay, two quick questions. The very first one comes from John 15, 1 through 6. That makes it sound like we’re saved by works. Could you explain that? Absolutely. That’s talking about fruit bearing, it’s talking about the Christian life, not about how to be saved. You’ll notice there, Jesus says, I’m the vine and we are the branches.

Verse 2 says, every branch in me, that’s key. They phrase in me. You are in Christ, you are saved. In Philippians 3-9, if you want to write this down as a cross-reference, it says, be found in Him. That is in Christ. Or in me. Be found in Him in the last two words, say by faith. When you place your faith in Christ, you are found in Christ as a branch. And then you’re expected to produce fruit. It talks about Christians and there are four categories of Christians.

There are no fruit Christians, there are fruit Christians, there are more fruit Christians and much fruit Christians. So you’re either producing no fruit at all or some fruit and then some more fruit and some much fruit. And the key is of course, is our Christian walk that we are in him and he is in us speaking about our taking in his word and applying it in our lives and serving. And so it’s not talking about salvation, it’s talking about people that are already saved, There are branches in the vine that should be producing fruit and the four different degrees of fruit bearing that a Christian might experience.

And notice, he says in verse 16, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit. So it’s talking about fruit bearing after you become saved, after you become a branch in the vine, the vine is Christ where the branch is as believers. And so it’s talking about that. And by the way, every believer, according to verse 16, is chosen to be a branch that would bring forth fruit.

So your responsibility in mind is to bring forth fruit. And I believe that fruit is when we reproduce ourselves. If I was an apple tree, I would reproduce apples. If I was an orange tree, I would reproduce oranges. If you’re a Christian tree, guess what? Your fruit would be a baby Christian. And so as I tell people about Jesus and they trust Jesus as their Savior, I am bearing fruit. And every Christian can do that. You can lead your own family to Christ.

You can lead your children to Christ, your grandchildren to Christ, your aunts, uncles, nephews, and nieces. And wow, what a thrill it is to be a branch bearing fruit and replacing yourself in the sense that when you die that there will be those who know Christ the Savior because you have born fruit spiritually in leading people to Christ. I hope that helps out on that one. The problem I have is in verse 6. Go ahead. In verse 2 it says he who doesn’t bear fruit, he take it the way and then in verse 6 it says men gather them and cast them into fire when they are burned.

Right, verse 6 is talking about men gather them, not God. It’s talking about your testimony. If you are not bearing fruit, then you have no testimony. And so men reject what you have to say. And what you have to say is of no more value than a dead branch that needs to be cast under the fire and just burn up and to be gotten rid of. And so it’s not talking about loss of salvation because it’s not God casting you out.

That’s impossible, John 637. Jesus said, him that cometh to me, I will have no wise cast out. So Christ isn’t casting anybody out. It says, men cast them out. And what it’s talking here about is your testimony will be burnt up at the judgment seat of Christ, and you’ll suffer the loss of reward. It says in 1 Corinthians 3, 15, if any man’s work shall be burned, if any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss of reward, but he himself shall still be saved so it’s not about rewards okay secondly i’m going to hang up as soon as i ask is the sacrifice can you explain what they are how many how often so forth and so on and i’m going to hang up the list of people thank you very much thank you temp the sacraments uh…

the catholic church has invented He said, I’m not going to say that you can’t have grace and work together. Grace, by definition, in the Bible, is the absence of any work. To try to say that you can work in earned grace, is really a contradiction. You can’t have grace and works together. Grace is the absence of works. If you attempt to be saved by works, you won’t be saved at all because you’ll have no grace. But the Catholic Church says that through keeping the sacraments, which is works, you would earn grace, which is certainly foreign to the Bible.

The Bible teaches no concept like that at all. Well, anyway, we believe there are two ordinances which Christ gave. That is the Lord’s Supper and Water Baptism. Neither one of them save, but they They are pictures to us of spiritual events. You know, water baptism is a one-time event in the life of a believer after they’ve become saved to give testimony that they’ve been cleansed of their sin by the blood of Christ. Water will not take away your sin.

We’re not saved by water. We’re saved by the blood of Christ. And so a believer is to, at the beginning of their Christian experience, be water baptized by immersion as a testimony that they have been cleansed of their sin by the blood of Christ. Then the Lord’s Supper has to do with our daily walk. And as we walk about, we defile ourselves, we sin as a Christian even, and so we need to come to the Lord and confess our sins.

And he cleanses us in our daily walk. In the Old Testament, the priest before he could serve had to come to the labor which was a basin of water and he would wash and his feet became defiled, his hands were defiled and so he’d wash his hands and his feet and then he was ceremonially cleansed to be able to serve. So we also are cleansed when we judge ourselves and examine ourselves and come to the Lord’s suffer to have fellowship with him.

And as we are in fellowship with Christ and are serving, God will bless our efforts and reward us. Thank you so much, Tim. That was Tim in East Florida on the East Coast. We have Chris and Tampa. Chris, welcome to Bibleline. You’re on the air. Hello, Dr. Hank. Good morning. Hi, Dr. Hank. I just have a question. I just read a book by John MacArthur called the Truth War. And he’s talking about the emerging church. I have two questions first is what you think about john MacArthur his teachings as well as uh…

the emerging church uh… and if you could have just kind of explain a couple of those things uh… all hang up and listen to you well the the emerging church i don’t know whether john is for that are against that but that’s uh… part of the rick warren it thing this uh… whole new uh… uh… ballgame in the way of churches are doing i’m hearing from people all the time that Rick Warren is not building churches but destroying them.

They had a person tell me just this week that they’re deaconing their church. And Rick Warren’s philosophy is you got to get rid of these older folks in the church. They say, what are the pillars of the church for? And they say, well, they’re the whole thing’s up, so you got to get rid of them. So they try to get rid of the older generation and attract the new generation and he used the loud music and get rid of the Bibles and the hymnals and everything’s on the jumbotron and you get much more of an entertainment situation and a teaching of God’s Word.

And this is all about what that’s all about. John MacArthur and I would disagree on a number of things. He’s a Calvinist, five-pointer and he really believes and teaches that you and I have no choice at all that God elects who’s going to be saved and who’s going to be damned. And whether you believe on Christ as Savior or not is not the way you become saved. You are elected and then overcome by God the Holy Spirit and you believe is a consequence of being chosen and saved not as the means of your being chosen and saved.

So I believe the opposite is true. I believe you have to trust Christ in order to be saved. So he mixes because of his Calvinism, the serving Christ with salvation. The fifth point of Calvinism is called the Perseverance of the Saints, and they say that your life will improve, your life will get better, you will be gaining new heights every day, you will persevere in your Christian life until the day you die, if you’re genuinely chosen. So in other words, if you don’t have works, then they say you’re not saved or you don’t have saving faith and it really mixes works in from the back door into salvation which I totally disagree with.

So in any case… If you read his book, hard to believe, it really is hard to believe what he says there. He says in his book that you could be faithfully serving God until the last two weeks and then stop and then it would prove that you were never saved at all because you didn’t persevere till the end of your life. That is, I think, totally, totally wrong. Have you trusted Christ as your Savior? There’s only one way to be saved, only one way to go to heaven and that is Jesus himself.

Jesus said in John 14, 6, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. No man, no woman, no child. No one can come to the Father except by Jesus Christ. If you reject Christ, my friend, you have no chance because there’s no other way. There’s no other way. Peter said it so clearly in Acts 4, 12. He said, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven, give it among men, whereby we must be saved.

Most churches teach works for salvation. It’s sometimes very subtle. But you have to do something to be saved according to most churches when the Bible says, you can do nothing. It’s not of yourself that our best righteous deeds are filthy rags inside of God Isaiah 64, 6. And you have nothing to offer God. I have nothing to offer God. You don’t either. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care where you attend or what you do. You don’t have a thing to offer God.

The Bible says your best righteous deeds are filthy rags in the sight of God. You have to come just as you are. You have to simply recognize your need that you’re lost and headed for hell and you need a Savior. Jesus Christ is that one and when you come to Him by faith trusting that He made the full payment for your sin was buried and rose again from the dead God saved you. So most important decision you’ll ever make in your life.

I hope you’ve made that decision to trust Christ and Savior. You can do it right now. You can whisper a prayer. You could say something like as follows. I got on the center. Admit it. We all are. But right now, what I just heard made a lot of sense. And I trust Jesus Christ right now as the one who died and paid for my sins. In full on the cross by his death and shed blood was buried and rose again from the dead.

And I trust Jesus Christ right now to save me, to give me the gift of eternal life. And the moment you do that, God saves you. That concludes today’s question and answer segment. There’s no other topic that is more important to us than the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it was Dr. Hank Lindstrom’s mission to spread the gospel. Through your support for Bibleline, you too can help to spread the gospel of Christ throughout the world and to reach others with the message of salvation through Jesus.

Visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org for copies of any of our resources such as Dr. Lindstrom’s audio CDs on the books of John or Hebrews, plus many others. Now join us as we return to today’s teaching series. And the Bible says, seek ye first. And we need to look to him first in our lives. Seek ye the kingdom of God first and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. So we can trust that God will take care of us.

And I know that in challenging a lot of people to go into Christian work, especially younger people. I’ve had many times parents get mad at me and point their finger in my face and say, I want you to tell me how my man is. My young man is going to be able to put bread on the table. How is he going to feed his family? And you’re challenging him to go off and serve God. Well, the answer is right here because God will supply.

If you seek the Lord, he’ll take care of your needs and he’ll supply them. So God makes a promise and you can trust So he doesn’t want you to worry about that. That doesn’t mean you can lay back and do no work. Obviously, you need to work hard at what God wants you to do. Look, if you will, at the contrast to that, over in the book of 2 Thessalonians, where I’m going, page 1272, it says here in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 3, page 1272, verse 10 says, even when we were with you, we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should he what?

Eat. So obviously God is not talking about us being lazy and not working. Even when we were with you, this we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should he eat. So you don’t work. You don’t get paid. You don’t eat and so on. So what Christ is saying is if you have your focus right that your treasures are in heaven and You’re living to please the Lord God says he’ll take care of your needs and put him first And that doesn’t mean that you’re lazy and you don’t work but you work hard at doing the right things and God is gonna bless you and take care of the needs that you have and certainly he will you can trust him to do that verse 34 says take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrows shall take thought for the things of itself.

Sufficient under the day is the evil thereof. A lot of people are always worried about tomorrow, and because of that they don’t take time to deal with the problems of today. And if you just dealt with everybody’s problems as they come, you’ll be in great shape, and that’s what Christ is saying. Every day has enough problems and enough evil in it to keep you plenty busy without you having to worry about the next day. So if you just took over today’s business, you’ll be fine.

But it says, take no thought for the morrow. For the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient under the day is the evil thereof. I think Christ is saying that every day has enough problems and enough evil and enough conflict that that should keep you plenty busy. And don’t worry about tomorrow until tomorrow comes. So if you’re just worried about today, that’s all you have to take care of, and that’s all we’re responsible for. And usually people are worried about things that are never even going to happen.

They say that nine out of ten things that you think might come your way will never even come your way. You know, never even going to happen to you. And people seem to lie awake and think about things they can worry about. And it requires the saying here, don’t worry about all those things. You just take care of every day as it comes along. Do your best each day and you’ll be just fine. Don’t worry about the future. That doesn’t mean you don’t plan for the future, but it means you don’t worry about the future.

Take care of today’s business. And then as tomorrow comes, take care of tomorrow’s business and you’re going to do fine. And the Lord will take care of your needs, whatever they might be. I remember when I was choosing to serve the Lord, I didn’t have a car at that time, and I was chasing all over South Florida, having Bible studies. I went up to Fort Lauderdale. I went up to Boca Raton, and I went up to the Y in Fort Lauderdale, and I, that I want to be able to have meetings here and reach you for Lauderdale to Christ.

And I signed a contract for a dollar a year. I got to use the Y. I had all their facilities, their swimming pool, everything else. I had a lot of teenagers come and we got him saved. I didn’t think, but I was always hitching rides with other people. I’d be on the back of somebody’s motorcycle or in the back of somebody’s car going some place. Some guy came along and he said, you don’t have a car do you? I said no.

He said, I’ll give you a car. He gave me an old plymouth, a Plymouth. That thing wasn’t the most beautiful car that it got me around. And when I came to Tampa, I was promised a car by some people that wanted me to come to this city. And so I gave away my car. There was a guy in Bible college that was needy. He didn’t have a car. So I said, you can have my car. I won’t need a car.

I’m going to have a car when I get to my next destination. So I didn’t worry about that. And I got here. There was no car. It was a false promise. So it finally got me one of those Volkswagen buses. I don’t know if you remember those things. If I had a headwind, I could maybe get 45 miles an hour. If I had a tailwind, I got up to about 60. It was one foot on the door just to give it some additional speed.

They were very affected by the wind. But anyway, I didn’t worry about it. The Lord always supplied. And I said, I’m in your hands. And if you want me to get someplace, you’re going to provide me some transportation. So the Lord always took care of it. So I didn’t worry much about that. But that’s what I think the Bible is saying here. And if you take care of business every day, God says he’ll take care of your needs, whatever they might be.

And those seem like smaller lessons, but then as time goes along, just like even with our radio program, when we decided to go on word radio, one of their persons saw my access channel program and said, you know, you know, I’d be on our radio station, I said, well, I can’t afford it. And he said, well, we can maybe get you going with 15 minutes. Maybe make that affordable. That was even terribly expensive, believe it or not. So I was praying about going on the air.

And I said, Lord should I do that because I don’t have any money to do this at all. So I was concerned all week long about that. It was a Friday afternoon and I was sitting looking at the wind and reading my Bible saying I got to make a decision because it’s decision time. I either take it or that time just evaporates and the offer is gone. And so a guy pulls up in the parking line. I hadn’t seen it a long time.

I used to go here and I was from down here from North Carolina Came in and said you know, I’ll give you a check while I’m here to use however you see fit I said thank you very much and he said aren’t you gonna look at the check? I think it was folded and I wasn’t gonna look at it, you know, and I opened it up was $30,000 and And I said, I think Lord you answered my prayer requests because I had to make the decision that weekend.

And that gave me, in a sense, seed money enough to build an audience so we could go to the next level and the next level. And then we went to half an hour and it went to an hour. And the Lord was provided from the get-go and he just took care of it. So when I looked at the check I knew why he wanted me to look at it because it was a significant amount. The Lord has taken care of it.

And the same thing happened with our television. We weren’t going to go on CTN. I didn’t even consider that. But we were threatened to go off the air on the access because of the, you know, they’re going to shut the whole access channel down. I had mentioned that, and the family took me out the lunch, and they said, why don’t you try CTN? And they gave me a check. And I looked at it. It was for 10,000. So I was stuck.

I hadn’t spent them any that way because when somebody gives a check that’s designated, we spent it the way they that’s the defender, we don’t take it, we just hear as you money back, or we do it. So I said, okay, we’ll do it. Thanks for listening to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom. We’d like to continue with Dr. Lindstrom’s teaching, but we are out of time for today. We hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s program and that you are learning from it.

If you missed any part of today’s program, or if you’d like to hear it again, please Please visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org, where you can either listen to today’s program again or if you prefer you can get the entire teaching series through our online store. If you have any questions or comments about today’s program, please call us at 1-800-576-3771 Or you can write us at Bible-ign ministries 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. It was Dr. Lindstrom’s ministry to spread the gospel of salvation by telling all who would listen about the shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus to pay the sin debt that we all owe but cannot pay for ourselves.

If you have not yet trusted Jesus as your Savior, we encourage you to do so. Just visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org and watch Dr. Lynch from 7 Minute Video that will greet you there. If you have already trusted Jesus as your Savior, then we encourage you to develop and strengthen the foundation of your Christian life by spending time reading your Bible and learning with us about God’s Word by listening to Bibleline. We’d like to say thank you to our audio team for their work on today’s program.

Until next time, this has been Tom Perry for Bibleline Ministries. We invite you to join us again for another edition of Bibleline, and as Dr. Lindstrom would say, keep looking up. Jesus is coming. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida. Your regular monthly donations to Bibleline make it possible for this ministry to continue in your area and on the internet. Please contact us today and lend your prayerful and financial support. Bibleline’s address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634.

Or visit Bibleline online and BibleLineMinistries.org. Be sure to tune in to another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. He did not discipline the neighborhood kids. My dad only took care of disciplining me. Guess what? God doesn’t discipline the lost. Only those that are his kids get disciplined. And so if you are born again, if you’re saved, God then becomes your father, and he’s not gonna let you live as you please. Those who try to teach that certainly haven’t read their Bible.

And those who are not saved will maybe go along and try to claim that they’re a Christian, when indeed they’re not. And it’s exposed by the fact that God doesn’t interfere in their life. You know, I had a young lady I was preaching out in Colorado at a youth camp up in the mountains outside of Denver and a young lady came to me and she said, you know, since I’ve trusted Christ, she was only a believer for six months.

She said, everything in my life is going wrong. And I said, tell me about it. What do you mean? Well, she said, you know, First of all, I got caught for doing drugs. And I said, well, it seems like God wanted you to stop. And that’s why. She said, also, my mom decided to move to another city. And now I’m no longer with my friends anymore. I said, that sounds like God is removing you from your bad environment and your friends that were causing you to do the wrong kind of things.

And she went on and listed a number of things. And I said, you know, God is really working in your life because you’re a believer now and He doesn’t want you to continue Continue in those things you were doing prior to your salvation and I hear that from adult as adults as well Brand new believers especially say whoa what’s going on here? Everything was going smooth until I trusted Christ and you see God’s Disciplining hand becomes involved in their life.

Look if you will in verse 11 here It says in Hebrews 12 no discipline for the present Seemeth to be joyous but grievous I don’t ever remember being disciplined by my dad and saying boy this is wonderful. This is exciting This is great. I want to celebrate. Let me have friends come over and watch my dad discipline me I never it was not that kind of an experience at all. It was a grievous experience I didn’t want to let other people in on that we didn’t party afterward No, not at all.

It says no discipline for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous now catch this Hebrews 1211 Nevertheless, afterward, afterward, afterward, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised there by it. For those that say the fact that you are saved forever, once you trust Christ that works or not involved at all, you cannot be lost, Christ will never cast you out, He will never lose you. The fact that they would say that you can live as you please is not true.

This verse says that God, when He disciplines those who are believers, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteous living under those which are exercised there by when God has to exercise his discipline in your life it will cause you to live righteously. God can get your attention and you know if you’ve ever seen a child that’s been disobedient and you discipline them what happens they usually become very peaceable and very obedient. Yes sir right now okay I’ll behave alright and they become peaceable and very submissive and they usually become obedient upon being disciplined.

The same thing is true of a believer. If you’ve trusted Christ, you cannot live as you please. Yes, no matter what you do, you’ll still go to heaven. But you might go to heaven sitting in your plan on it. You might suffer the loss of reward for eternity because you haven’t done anything for God. But also God will discipline you and he’ll get your attention. And so there are two objections to the true gospel. One is it’s too simple.

And the Bible says it is simple, 2 Corinthians 11-3. And also others say, well that would mean you could go out and live as you please! And yes, that’s true, you could, but guess what? God will spank you for it, and you’ll not get away with it. Hebrews 12-6 says, For whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and scourges every son whom he receives. And verse 8 of Hebrews 12 says, If you be without discipline, where of all of his children Now partakers, you’re a bastard and you’re not a son.

You’re not a child, God’s family, because God deals with every one of His children and you’re not going to be able to live as you do. You’ve got to run, keep looking up. Jesus is coming, keep your eyes focused on the Lord. I’m Dr. Hank Wilson saying, the Bible will be back tomorrow. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida. Your regular monthly donations to Bibleline make it possible for this ministry to continue in your area and on the internet.

Please contact us today and lend your prayerful and financial support. Bibleline’s address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Or visit Bibleline online and BibleLineMinistries.org. Be sure to tune in to another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida.