Bibleline Radio Show – 2009-08-12

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So cherish the old again, for us, till my truth is at last my nature. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom, a ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Declan 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 here today on Bibleline. This is Tom Perry, and we are about to begin Dr.

Hank Lindstrom’s teaching series entitled Jesus is Coming. We pray that Bibleline will be glorifying to God as well as educational for you through its combination of teachings from the Word of God and real-life questions with answers taken straight from the Bible as we continue Dr. Lindstrom’s ministry of spreading the The good news of salvation through simply trusting Jesus Christ alone as your Savior. We hope that you will plan to open your Bible and join us as we study topics such as the two comings of Christ, Jesus coming for His saints, Jesus coming with His saints, and more.

Now join us as we begin Dr. Lindstrom’s teaching series for today. Jesus is coming as a major theme throughout the Bible. From the very beginning, the Bible tells us about the Savior and how He would come twice to the earth the first time in order to pay for our sins, the second time in order to come back and rule and reign over this earth and bring peace on earth good will toward men. Certainly you cannot escape the second coming if you are reading your Bible, some have said, I know Howard Hendricks out of Dallas Theological Seminary says that one-third of every verse in the Bible is in some way connected to the ruary 2nd coming of Christ.

So for those pastors and those churches that don’t talk about the 2nd coming, they are clearly ignoring a great deal of scripture that talks about the return of Christ. And that’s unfortunate for the people that sit under those pastors who don’t talk about it, but there are many denominations that don’t even deal with the topic. And there are many denominations that believe that Christ has already come back. They believe He came back in 80s, 70s, and He came back in all of His power and all of His glory, and people just didn’t see it, which is kind of crazy to me, but that is what is called preterism.

And preterism says that Christ has already returned and that we’re in the kingdom now. And there are many churches that believe we’re in the kingdom right now. And of course that certainly is not true. If we were in the kingdom, the earth would be at peace. The Bible tells us that when Christ comes comes back, there will be peace on earth, good will toward men. And I, when I read my headlines, don’t see peace on earth today. I don’t think you do either.

So we’re quite clearly not in the kingdom. Also Christ would be visibly ruling from Jerusalem from His throne. I don’t see that either. That isn’t happening. Also, there will be changes in the animal kingdom. The Bible says that the lion will eat straw like the ox. I don’t see that either. But I enjoy that one because I love to challenge those who say that we’re in the kingdom and say, how about go with me to the zoo, maybe to Bush Gardens, and I’ll bring straw and you bring your arm and we’ll go to where the lions are kept and I’ll push straw through the bars and you push your arm through the bars and if the lion goes for the straw, I’ll say you were right.

We’re in the kingdom. But if the lion goes for your arm, then I’ll say, I was right and you were wrong. And of course, nobody’s ever taken me up on that. I don’t understand why, because I think they know that the lion’s going to go for their arm and not to straw. But Isaiah 11 clearly tells us that the lion will eat straw like the ox and the cow and the bear will feed together. And so will the wolf and the lamb play together and be safe.

And that just is not happening. So we’re going to take a look at what the scriptures say. And I first want to begin over in the book of Revelation. We’re going to work our way backward through the New Testament here. You’ll notice in chapter 22, we have the last couple of verses here of Revelation, and it says in verse 20 of Revelation chapter 22, he which testify of these things sayeth, surely I come quickly. And so that’s Jesus saying that he’s coming, and he’s coming quickly.

And obviously, as the Bible tells us that God sees, I think, time as we see it here on the earth is one day as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day. And so basically, between the first coming and the second coming of Christ, we’ve only really seen two days transpire. We believe that we’re at the end of that second day, and Christ is about ready to establish His Kingdom, which will be the third day or the third thousand years as far as Bible prophecy is concerned.

Then it says here, John’s response, John the Apostle who writes the book of Revelation, he says, even so what? Come, Lord Jesus. So I thought it would be a nice place to start to show that the Bible ends telling us about Christ coming back again. Those who teach predarism know that the book of Revelation teaches this, and so they try to say that the book of Revelation was written sometime early in 8060 or at least somewhere before AD 63 because this book says that Christ is coming future.

Since they believe the tribulation was from AD 63 to AD 70, the seven years of tribulation was then, that Nero was the Antichrist, and that the Romans came that was the coming of Christ back in AD 70, they obviously don’t find that they can explain a way of revelation if it was written later. One of those who is a preterist is Hank Hennigraff, and I have his book in my library. He’s called The Last Disciple. Who do you think The Last Disciple is?

He’s talking about John who writes the last book of the Bible, and they make a big case supposedly that Revelation was written early, so that when John was talking about the Lord coming back, that it would be written before 8063 and before 8070 when Jerusalem and the temple was destroyed and the Jewish people were scattered around the earth. That is really not the case at all. In fact, there’s another book that we have here on the table called The In Time Controversy written by Thomas Iess.

And that book nails the coffin shut. It proves without a doubt that Revelation was written late, probably around AD 96 as Schofield says in the center column if you have a Schofield Bible. And so Revelation was written long after the supposed second coming. And as we just read, the book closes with Christ saying, surely I come quickly. And then John responds and says, even so come, Lord Jesus. So this is a book, no doubt, about the coming of Christ.

And throughout the book, we have many references to the return of Jesus back to the earth. I want to go back to the first chapter, though, where we have one verse that stands out, which I believe is the book of Revelation in miniature. If you were to just kind of condense the whole book and summarize Revelation, the book of Revelation, in one verse, it would be Revelation 1-7. And notice what it says. And this is not talking about the rapture, but it’s talking about the Second Coming.

Behold, He, Christ, come with clouds, and every eye shall see Him. And they also, which pierced Him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him, even so, amen. Well, that’s what it’s all about. Christ will come back visibly and everybody on the earth will know it and see it when it takes place. And there will be a lot of death as he will destroy all the unbelievers on the earth. And so people will wail and cry as it will be a time of cleansing and Christ then will establish his kingdom on the earth.

But very clearly, this book from chapter 1 to chapter 22 talks about the return of Jesus Christ back to this earth. And so So this is a marvelous book and of course we’ll maybe make references again in the future of this book. But now let’s back up one page and we’ll go to the book of Jude. Do we find the second coming anywhere else in the New Testament? And the answer is resoundingly, yes, it’s everywhere. Here we are in the little book of Jude, one chapter long, and it says here that even Enoch, that takes us back to the book of Genesis, which Enoch are we talking about here?

It says the seventh from Adam, that’s the one that was raptured or translated, taken up by the Lord and just disappeared from sight, a picture of the rapture just prior to the flood. And that is exactly what will happen to us who are living at the event when Christ returns that the rapture will be caught up and meet the Lord in the air. The Bible uses the term translated. And we won’t be found. will not be able to find you because you will not be here on the earth anymore.”

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. Hank Lindstrom’s DVD teachings on the topics of Lost People Seeking God, Are We in the Laughter Days, and Scientific facts 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 the phone lines and we’re going to talk to Stephanie in Richmond, Virginia and Stephanie welcome to Bibleline you are on the air Stephanie are you there? Yes, I’m here. Okay. Do you have a question? Yes? I want to ask your opinion I drive a company truck around town all day and I see all these people you know holding up homeless signs and I’ve been to them, you know a couple of times, but you see them every day and You know, what’s your opinion on?

Should you keep giving to these people every day or I mean it’s hard to ride by and ignore that they’re there? I know and you know sometimes unfortunately they use that money for alcohol and they don’t use it for food. I usually try if I can to see if I can’t pick them up you know a sandwich or pay for their food at a restaurant as opposed to giving them money. I’ve been stung so many times where I give them money and then I come back they come back a little bit later and they’re drunk and they have their hand up because they want more and it’s because they want more alcohol.

We’ve had a number of homeless near our church here and we’ve tried to do a lot for many of them but some of them really don’t want to better themselves. They don’t even want to find shelter. We’ve had a couple just tell me they like to live out of the woods. They’re like boys that never grew up in their big boy scouts that live out in the woods. I know that there are those who because of unfortunate circumstances are genuinely seeking shelter at a home and if we can help them that would be great.

But just be alert, I think we need to give them the gospel and if we can give them food and clothing that’s wonderful but you need to be a little careful about giving cash because oftentimes that disconverts into whiskey or drugs. Yes. Well I had thought about maybe one of them on problem, maybe that one. Well that would be great I think to get the scriptures to them. We had one that was near here and was cold. A man in our church offered his leather jacket and that person said, I can’t wear that because then I won’t get any more donations if he was wearing something to look nice on the street corner.

So he refused it. I mean, it was interesting to us to see what they refuse and what they’ll accept, but they really want money. Generally speaking, that’s not true of all. There are some really unfortunate people that really do need our help. Sometimes we have to just sift through and find those that are not looking for another bottle to drink But are really looking for genuine help it if we can lead them to Christ. That’s marvelous Yes Thank you Stephanie.

Thank you for your time. Uh-huh. We’re now going to go to Jeff down in Venice Florida and Jeff 😉 Welcome Good morning STATES. Thank you for taking my callUSER 1 Corinthians 6 9 through 11 I’m sorry go ahead where Paul was talking about the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God and then in He mentioned homosexuals and adulterers and things such of that nature and then in verse 11 but such We’re some of you But you’re lost and you’re saying to fight and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God Now was Paul relaying the fact that some of those people were still in those sins or was he just using as an example or a worldly example?

No, he’s really telling us about our position in Christ and how that although we are saved and saved forever And nothing can undo that. It’s not a smart to go. We’re going to continue to live in those things because we now belong to the Lord and we owe our livesyahoo.com and we’re going to give an account as to how we live our lives after we save. So you’ll notice verse 12 he continues. The things are lawful unto me.” What he’s saying is, once you’ve been tried for a crime and the crime has been paid for, let’s say that somebody commits a crime, the judge sentences to three years in jail.

He spends his three years in jail. He comes out, somebody sees you walk him down the street and says, there’s that thief and they report him to the police. Well, the police say, well, he’s already paid his time. There’s nothing we can do. He’s been tried and found guilty and assigned a punishment, and he’s paid that punishment and he’s free. Well Jesus paid for every sin that you and I would ever commit past, present, and future. And so we’ve already been judged.

Our sins were paid for at the cross 2,000 years ago, and now we’re set free. And really what it’s saying here is that I could do anything, I mean that scares people when you say that, but I could do anything and it would not affect my salvation. All things are lawful unto me. My sins passed by the future have already been judged and paid for at the cross. And so I could do anything that would not affect what I go to heaven or not.

But then you’ll notice what Paul says as he continues that phrase there. He says all things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient. He’s really saying it’s not a smart thing to do, even though you could do anything and you’re still going to heaven. It’s not smart because you’re going to be held accountable. Then he says that a second time, all things are lawful. for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”

So he didn’t want himself to be put under the power of sin in his life, but wanted to live for Christ. And then he reminds us, and he says in verse 19, what don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own for your bought with a price? Therefore what? Glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are gods. So he purchased you and me.

We really don’t belong to ourselves. And as a Christian, we ought to live for the Lord. But he’s telling us that although we were condemned, Christ made the full payment at the cross. And now all things are lawful because I can’t be judged twice for the same crime. So you can’t take me back to court and condemn me because the Bible says in Romans eight, there is no condemnation to those which are in Christ Jesus. We are not condemned and there is no condemnation thatendish can be brought against us.

And it doesn’t matter what we might do, and I know that scares people to hear me say that, but the Bible teaches it, but it doesn’t give us a license to sin. It gives us great reason to rejoice and say, wow, I’m saved forever and I can’t ever be lost no matter what I do. But I can be chasing the reward, and I will be brought into account at the Judgement of Christ, and I can suffer the loss of reward for all eternity.

So Paul goes on here to explain, though you are safe forever, you once were this, but now you are justified. That means legally declared righteous in God’s court of law. You are sanctified, which means you made pure and holy in the sight of God by the Spirit of God and you’re washed or cleansed of your sin. All of them, past, present, and future, you could really do anything and you would never go to hell, but God is gonna hold you accountable as far as blessings and rewards here and also an eternity.

Oh yeah, thank you very much. I appreciate it. If you don’t mind me asking one more question, what’s your idea of an election? Election, God elects to save all that would believe, and the non-elect of those that don’t believe. So, John 3.16 has it, it’s a simple form, for God so loved the whole human race, the world, that Greek word there means mankind, not the planet itself. But it says he so loved all of mankind that he gave his only gotten the son that whosoever believeth should not perish but have everlasting life.

So he’s elected to save those that would believe. But the negative is also true that if you will not believe, then you will perish and you’ll not have everlasting life. So God has already determined how it works out there based on his son. if you believe on christ you’ll not perish if you don’t believe on christ you will perish if you may have to go through some stuff this weekend on our last week on on calvin as an end but believe it was their fifth point that only certain people are elected and uh…

it just didn’t make sense to me i reject calvin asm i think that the use of people say there’s the position of universalism which says everybody goes to heaven which basically kafal says them says that as long as you’re sincere in whatever god you believe in you’re going to make heaven anyway there’s no. I don’t want to go to hell. You won’t go to hell. And then there’s the position of Armenianism, which is extreme free will that you can jump in and out of salvation every day.

Then there’s Calvinism that says you’re supposedly, eternally secure. But I think there’s a fourth position. That’s what the Bible teaches. Yes, but just don’t get caught up in any of those little clicks and you’re good to go. Basically, that’s right. Be careful about that. You have to read carefully. When you read books, the Bible is the only book you can really trust and you. and you can relax as you read it. Thank you very much, Dr. Hank, I’ll bless you.

Thank you, Jeff. Nothing about confession, nothing about baptism, nothing about confirmation, nothing about the Christian life. Simply one condition for salvation, that is the believer to trust on Christ as Savior. So that’s the key. And verse after verse after verse can be used to support the fact that the one condition that brings about salvation is trust in what Christ finished for us at the cross. For example, the dying thief. Think about him as God’s example of how people are to be saved.

Obviously there was only one thing that he did. Only one thing he could do. He was dying. And he simply looked over to Christ and trusted Christ. And Jesus said today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. So salvation happens at a moment of time or an instant of time at the moment of belief or trust. And obviously the dying thief didn’t have to continue confessing his sins. I’m confessing him my sins. I’m confessing him my sins. I’m confessing him my sins.

No, the dying thief simply trusted Christ. And upon that Christ said, right now, you can know that when you die, you’re gonna meet me in paradise. You’ll be today with me in paradise. Upon his death, he would join the Lord. Salvation is not based upon us continuing anything. That would be works. confessing our sins would be a work. And so there’s nothing for us to do but receive what Christ has already done. The Bible tells us, in fact, in Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, 4 by grace, grace, meaning mercy, unmerited favor, are you saved through faith in Jesus Christ?

And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So notice it says two things there. Salvation is not of yourself, which would mean there’s nothing that you or I could do to gain our salvation including confessing our sins. And secondly, it says it’s not of works. Unless we should boast or brag and say that, hey, we did something to bring about this salvation. So we can’t brag, we can’t boast and say that we did anything, but we simply trusted in what Christ did for us and and point out a couple of the simple verses, even John 3 16, For God still loved the world, all of mankind, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever, and it doesn’t say confess your sins, or can pin you into confess your sins, or it doesn’t list any other thing, but

simply whosoever believeth, that means to trust in Christ should not perish, but have everlasting life. If you don’t embrace Jesus Christ as being God, Took on human flesh and went to the cross and shed his blood to pay for your sin. You’re not saved. You’re not going to heaven. If you haven’t trusted Christ yet, you need to just say, Lord, I’m a sinner. And we all are, but I trust Jesus Christ right now as my only hope of heaven.

I trust Jesus Christ that he died and shed his blood was buried and rose again from the dead. In the moment you do, God, I’m in heaven, saves you. And I pray that you do that. Then make that second decision to serve him. That’s where it rewards coming and God’s blessings. 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… many other resources in our online store. It’s time for us to take a short 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. You know, Jesus Christ is in the Old Testament, wherever you look you’ll find Him there. In fact, Jesus Himself spoke about how He was in the writings of Moses and other parts of the Old Testament, fascinating. But yet I was never told that when I was a child being raised up in church, and nor was I ever encouraged to read the Old Testament to see these wonderful truths that are there. In God’s Word. But let me read a quote here from Jesus Christ.

And he says in John 5 verse 45, do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuses you even Moses in whom you trust. Verse 46, you ought to get this one to write it down, John 546, for had you believed Moses, you would have believed me for he wrote of me. Well Moses is the human writer of the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. And here Jesus says Moses wrote about me, and yet they prided themselves, that Jewish audience that Christ was speaking to prided themselves in reading Moses.

And yet he said, you’ve missed it, hey, there’s one that will accuse you one day and that’s Moses. If you had believed Moses, you would have believed me for he wrote about me. Wow. And the next verse, verse 47 of John 5 says, if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words? Well clearly Christ is in the Old Testament. You know one of the stories that is one I’ve always loved and is fascinating is the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

And we We have Jesus in Daniel chapter 3 and we have Chadrach, Meshach and Abednego, cast into the burning fiery furnace. You might remember that. And Nebuchadnezzar the king, we know, was astonished as he looked into the flames and he said, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire. And they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Did you realize that Jesus was in the burning fiery furnace with Shadrach Meshach in Abednego?

And they came out, unsinged, not the least bit of the smell of smoko in their flesh, and their clothing and everything was intact, nothing was burned. It’s a picture really of Christians will never endure the flames of hell fire. Hell is real. Hell is forever. And those that are lost will be cast into an everlasting lake of fire. One of the things that is a mark of a cult is the denial of hell. And the Joe’s wouldn’t have denied the fact that there’s a hell.

The Seventh Adventist denied that there is a hell. The Christian scientists denied that there is a hell. And on and on we could go, this is something that all of those that our cults deny. It all goes back to the garden where Satan himself denied the penalty for sin when he told Eve that if she aided the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of the medieval, he said, you shall not surely die. God said you’ll die. And Satan says no you won’t die.

And Satan always tells the lie that there is no hell, there is no penalty for dying without but there is. And here these three young believers, Chad Rekmitzak and Abednego, were cast into the burning fiery furnace. It was so hot. The king was so angry that he had it heated seven times hotter than it was designed to be heated. And even the men that cast these three men into the burning fiery furnace died because of the great heat as they brought them close to the fire and threw them in.

through the men. And then we read this incredible story here. And this is the testimony of Nebuchadnezzar the King himself. And he says, Lo, I see, he says of verse 24, did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire. And the answered and said, King, that’s true. Oh, King, we cast three into the fire. And he answered in verse 25 of Daniel chapter three. He said, Lo, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire and they have no hurt and the form of the fourth is Like the Son of God Jesus was there in that burning fire furnace You know the Bible tells us in Revelation chapter 20 that those that are saved will have no hurt of the what is called the second Death which is to be cast into the eternal hell Which is exactly what this is a picture of back here in

Daniel chapter 3 Let me quote to you from Revelation chapter 20 and here it talks about blessed. That means happy and it says here and holy, holy means your righteous. 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 now going to go to Mark in Pensacola, or Mark. Welcome to Bibleline You On The Earth. God bless you Pastor, you’re a great job. Thank you. And in my long life to those that believe they can still do what they did before after salvation, I in a way still like cheat, steal and drink, but I lie safely in the arms of the Christ that gave his life for me.

I, by salvation, I steal another from Satan. Every time I give my testimony and witness, and I drink the living waters on a daily basis. I love that. I’ve never heard that before in my life. That is great. I just had to rewrite the way things were written in my entire life. Amen. I thank God for you and your word spreading, sir. Amen. Well, thank you, Mark. And I’m glad you’re listening and hearing us up there in Pensacola, Florida.

God bless you brother. And you take care now. Thanks for sharing that with us. That was great. I love that. I might repeat that if you don’t mind. Yeah, anytime sir. Alrighty. That was Mark up in Pensacola, Florida and put a different spin on that whole idea about living as you please. I like that, you know, Satan is trying to take clothes with him to hell and he’s stealing him out of Satan’s hands by leading them to Christ. That’s wonderful.

And we’re going to go to Tony in Bradenton, Florida, and Tony, you’re on the air. Welcome to Bibleline. Good morning, preacher. God bless you. Thank you. I’m going to be doing a study on God’s grace, and I was wondering about those five crowns if you wouldn’t mind giving us the specific five crowns and the scripture references, and I’ll take your answer over the year. Alrighty. We’ll certainly do that, Tony, and also you can call back later, and our operators can send out the paper I’ve written on all five of those where you have an explanation about each one.

But one is the Soul-Winners Crown. In 1 Thessalonians 2, 19 and 20, it talks about crown of rejoicing, which is the Soul-Winners Crown. Every soul you lead to Christ, I believe you get that crown. There is the Teacher’s Crown, the crown of glory, 1 Peter 5, 4. If you teach the Bible to anybody, you’re going to get that crown, I believe. Here is the crown called the crown that’s incorruptible. First Corinthians 927 talks about if you keep your life organized and disciplined like an athlete would that was preparing for the Olympic Games, that you can earn that reward.

So the disciplined Christian who’s focused on what they ought to be doing for the Lord and stay focused and carry out that mission to win the crown will get that crown. also the crown for the one who suffers for Christ. If you go through trials and tribulations and you still are an effective testimony for Christ, James 2 12 and Revelation 2 10 talks about this crown. It’s called the crown of life and it’s given to those that are martyred for their faith in Christ as well as suffer for the cause of Christ.

And then the last one I’m going to share with you is a piece of cake. I think everybody ought to be able to get this one I would think. Second Timothy, 4-8 says, if you’re watching for Christ’s return and living your life in that expectancy, you’re gonna get this wonderful crown of righteousness. To me, that’s a piece of cake. I’ve been watching for Christ’s return ever since. I got to say, when I heard He’s coming for me and we’re gonna be raptured out and meet the Lord in the air, I got excited about that and I’ve been watching ever since and I’m looking for Christ to return in my lifetime.

I believe that there’s a good chance that all of us who are living and breathing right now might be in the event called the Rapture. That’s 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 8. I hope that helps a little bit. We also have a wonderful book on grace by Louis Beershefer, the guy who founded the Dallas Theological Seminary way back in the early 1900s. We’ve got his book on grace here. It’s a marvelous book and that might also be a great aid to you if you’re teaching on the doctrine of grace.

We have off the air, Terry from Clearwater, Florida, wants to know, what about the recent acceleration of terrorist bombings and end-time prophecy? Well I think all of that is a sign of the Lord’s return as the world is becoming more violent. And what does it say? Jesus said it would be again as it was in the days of Noah. And if you read about the days of Noah, look if you will at Genesis 6 and 11. And my Bible it says, and the earth was filled with violence.

The earth was filled with violence. Doesn’t that sound like our headlines today? I’ll tell you. The days of Noah were filled with violence. We are living in a very violent world with terrorists threatening us all the time. If we didn’t have the security measures that we have right now in place, I’m sure we would have been hit many times over. Obviously we need to be vigilant, But we’re in the last days. Off the air we have Chris in Delmar, New York.

Delmar, New York, just called in, asked is eternal security a big issue in today’s evangelical church? I believe it absolutely is. It may not surface because a lot of preachers keep that under wraps and they really don’t tell you what they believe because they’re trying to dance a fine line between those that Believe it and those that don’t believe it and they won’t come out and tell you where they stand, but it is Really a major issue because the only kind of salvation that God offers is eternal security You know God offers eternal life.

It’s not temporary life It’s not life until you sin again. It’s not life until you break your commandment. It’s not probation. It’s salvation When you trust Christ God eternally saves you at the moment you trust Christ and at that moment You receive eternal life. According to the Bible you presently possess it. John 3 16 even says there that you’ll not perish, but you’ll have, have as a present tense verb, everlasting life. And so if you have everlasting life right now, according to John 3 16 you do, if you’ve trusted Christ as your will in hope of heaven, then what kind of life will you have tomorrow?

Well it’ll still be eternal life only. How about next week it’ll still be everlasting life? What about a year from now, it’ll still be everlasting life. What about a hundred years from now? It’s still going to be everlasting life. In other words, it’s forever and ever and ever. Chris and Del Martin New York, hopefully that answers your question. Thanks for calling in. We’re now going to go to Jennifer down in Sarasota, Florida. Jennifer, welcome to Bibleline you’re on the air.

Good morning Hank. My name is Judy and I’m from Sarasota. Okay. I was wondering what you’re feeling there about Rick Warren’s purpose driven church movement i’ve been getting the feeling that our church may be trying to going that direction well we’ve got a gathering how it should because we’ve got several books out one is called a seved on purpose and the other one is called who’s driving the purpose driven church both which are very enlightening but what i hear from people that have been in the churches that are purpose driven is that you basically no longer need your Bible.

They put everything upon a big screen. They feed you whatever they want you to hear. And you no longer have a place in the new seating of these, many of these new ones for a Bible or even a hymnal. All the songs that you sing are usually the contemporary which have not much of a message at all. And the scriptures you see are the ones that they choose out of whatever translation they want you to read from. And it’s pretty shallow.

The Rick Warren theology, I believe, is flawed also. It’s along the lines of, of course, one of his good buddies is Bill Hybels out of Chicago on their website. They teach that if you begin a relationship with Jesus Christ and are pleased to continue that throughout your life, then God is pleased to continue it into eternity. But if you begin a relationship with Christ and you are not pleased to continue that, then God will not be pleased to continue it into eternity.

In other words, salvation is based on works and that you have to continue to keep on keeping on in order to ultimately get to heaven. that’s implied throughout the purpose-driven book where it seems like you step on a train, and if you don’t get off the train but ride the train to the end of the destination, which implies that you have to keep on keeping on, then you’ll make heaven for eternity. It seems like it’s a works-based philosophy, but a lot of those churches, they get rid of all the old-timers.

In fact, Rick Warren says that if you can’t kick them out, you might have to just wait until they die to get rid of the leaders, because he said that what are the pillars in the church for the whole things up that means to delay things in the way of change and so they get rid of the established older believers and they usually then throw out the traditional hymns throw out the traditional bibles and they usually go to more entertainment and more you know music and so on.

One little lady who calls me regularly said that she had to quit going because the music was so loud that affected her pacemaker and her heart and she couldn’t worship there anymore. She had to leave once they changed to purpose driven. She said she couldn’t stand on her feet that long and she couldn’t stand in the loudness of the music. And so obviously there’s a big change in the way people are worshiping today in the Rick Warren purpose driven church.

Well, how about the fact that church membership has been falling off and that churches are closing and they’re feeling that this is one good way to get new membership and get young. Well, that’s what it’s all about. It’s about church growth, but also some of the purpose driven churches are failing too, where they are failing also because they just have driven off everybody that was the real backbone, the real core, the real supporters. supporters, the older generation, they get rid of them and they also have their difficulties as well.

They usually build these new buildings and oftentimes they remove any symbols of Christianity and then they also paint the background’s black which is an interesting thing. Why would they do that? The purpose of a church will radically change the church, no doubt about it. But if you compromise the Bible then you need to look for another church. Okay and how would to as a member of the church pastor or staff about this. I think you ought to probably read a couple of these books and then internet a little bit about it.

We got the two books here who’s driving the purpose driven church. I have that. Okay, and the other one deceived on purpose. Both are pretty powerful and maybe buy them all copies and suggest that they read them before they make the decision. Thank you. All right. We’re so blessed to have you on the radio. We listen to you every day. Thank you very much. God bless you. That’s their soda Florida and it was Judy. 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. our website at BibleLineMinistries.org for copies of any of our resources such as Dr. Lindstrom’s audio CDs on How Permanent Is Your Salvation, plus many others. Now join us as we return to today’s teaching series.

We’ll be caught up and meet the Lord in the air. The Bible uses the term translated and we won’t be found. will not be able to find you because you will not be here on the earth anymore. And notice it says here, he prophesied of these about false teachers that would occur in the last days. And Enoch says this, behold the Lord what cometh with ten thousands of his saints. So here even the second coming was taught in Genesis as Enoch, the seventh from Adam, talked about how Christ would return.

And of course we had the second coming even earlier than that in the book of Genesis which will eventually take a look at. But this is one of those early references that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prior to the flood, talked about the second coming of Jesus Christ. In verse 15, he would execute judgment upon all that hasn’t happened yet. That’s the second coming, seven years after the rapture. He would convince or convict all that are ungodly, among them of all the ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed.

And of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him, that’s Jesus. Can you imagine? Here Enoch is talking about people trying to bash, cut down slander, Jesus. Way back there he tells of it prior to the flood. Today we’re experiencing it. I know there was a special just the other night about Christians being bashed today and it’s happening more and more, isn’t it? Interesting. That’s a sign of the end times. And certainly we’re going to see more of that.

And so if you’re not alert to that, that might make you a little bit cowardly to let people know you’re a Christian. But these are the days that the Bible has spoken about. These are days when we need to stand up because more and more Christians are going to be silenced and put down and criticized and so on. So here we have an interesting reference to the return of Christ way back here in the Book of Jude. Let’s go left a little bit more, and we find here that 3 John does not have a reference to the second coming, but 2 John hints about a day coming when we’ll receive reward, and That certainly is at least a hint that there’s a future time which other passages Written by John and other of the apostles who write the New Testament, tell us that it’s when

Jesus returns for us at the rapture that that is when we’ll receive reward. So 2nd John says verse 8, look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought or worked for, but that we receive a what? full reward. So what it’s saying here is that we need to be cautious that we read the Bible, follow the instructions carefully, so that we can receive the maximum reward. It talks about those that would teach false doctrine, and we see many of them today, and It says in verse 11, he that bit of him God’s speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

So it’s saying here, if you support a church or an evangelistic organization or a ministry of whatever sort that has bad doctrine, then the Bible says you’re partaker of that evil doctrine. And I think in verse eight, it’s implying that you’ll not have the reward. she thought you might have had, that that will be a negative against you. So if you’re giving to a ministry that has a false doctrine, then your partaker of their evil deeds, and I don’t believe you’re going to get a full reward for your investment if you’re giving it to the wrong place.

And obviously if you cooperate with ministries that have false doctrine, I believe the same is true, you’re partaker of their evil deeds and you’ll not get the reward. Maybe even if a Jehovah’s Witness comes to your door and you give them a track. But when they leave, you say, God bless you. Then you have just what? Become a partaker because you’re bidding them God’s blessing and God’s speed. And I never leave a Jehovah’s Witness leaving me feeling comfortable. I always let them know that they are false witnesses, and if they would like to shake hands with a true Jehovah’s Witness, they can shake my hand.

Because a true witness of Jehovah will recognize that Jesus is Jehovah, and that’s what it says right here in verse 9. Whosoever transgressive, and that’s everyone, were all sinners, and abided not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. What about Jehovah’s Witnesses? They do not abide in the doctrine of Christ that He’s got who took on human flesh. And so guess what? The witnesses are godless. That is quite an interesting thought to think about. Here they’re coming to you supposedly witnessing about Jehovah or Yahweh, and they don’t even have God.

According to this verse, they don’t have God. They have not God. But He did a bit of it in the Doctor of Christ. He have both the Father and the Son. And if you bid them Godspeed or any other that teaches falsely, then I believe you lose out on the full reward you could have. So I think that we need to maintain a purity of doctrine and purpose and make sure that we are supporting the truth and not the error of concerning Christ in his return.

Let’s go now over to 1 John. We’ll turn to the left and there are quite a few references in 1 John to the second coming. But I’m going to go over to chapter 3. And here’s a couple of wonderful verses. In 1 John chapter 3 and verse 1, it says, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called what? The sons of God. Therefore, the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not, or Christ.

So as believers, we truly have been blessed. We are called God’s sons because we’re born again into the family of God by trusting Jesus as Savior. Prior to our trusting Christ as Savior, we’re God’s creation and God is our Creator, but we are not as sons or daughters until we’re born again. But then God has chosen to call us His sons or daughters. And what a thing that is. That puts us positionally higher than the angels. When we die, we don’t become angels.

In angels never become men. Angels are angels and humans are humans, but if you become a believer, you become positionally higher than the angels because you’re called the sons of God. And the Bible says over in Hebrews that God never called an angel his son, but he calls us, who are members of the human race, that trust Christ is our savior. Now, are you ready? Verse 2 says, Beloved Now. Whenever I see the Now Word, I get excited. I’ve circled it, I’ve highlighted it, sometimes I draw arrows to it.

If I had some way to electronically cause it to flash or light up, I think I would do that also. But it says here, Beloved, writing to us who are believers, now are we what? The sons of God. You don’t wait until I have to die to be assured of going to heaven or to know that you’re a child of God or that you’re saved. You can know it right now while you’re living. And that’s why I like the now words.

Be loved now are we the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know not hope or guess or perhaps, but we know that when He shall appear, that’s Christ. And this is now talking about the rapture, because when He, all by Himself, Christ by Himself appears, then we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. So we’re going to be like Christ. We’ll be given resurrection bodies. It’ll be like Christ’s body, and will be forever delivered from our sinful nature and will be sinless as Christ is and will be in His presence forever and ever and ever and ever.

Let’s go to chapter 2. We’ll back up just a little bit. Verse 28 says, in 1 John 2, 28, and now little children abide in Him Christ that when He shall what? Appear, that’s again the rapture, 1 John 2, 28, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his what? His coming, his coming, his coming. So look at that. Wow. As we back up from Revelation, we find that almost every book has reference to the coming of Christ.

He’s coming again. 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 visit our website at bibelineministries.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 Bibleline 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. Lindstrom’s seven 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. Let me quote to you from Revelation chapter 20 and here it talks about blessed. That means happy. And it says here, and holy, holy means your righteous. And guess what? Every believer is considered righteous because they’ve trusted in Christ and God’s righteousness is credited to their account and it says in Revelation 20 verse 6 blessed happy and holy or righteous is he that have part in the first resurrection that’s the resurrection of the saved by the way And then look at what it says here in Revelation 20 verse 6 on such the second death, hath no power.

Just like the flames in the burning fiery furnace had no power and brought no hurt upon Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the believer is happy. And he’s righteous because of God’s righteousness imputed to his account based on the substitutionary death of Christ that Jesus took our place, took our sin debt and paid for it in its entirety by his death and shed blood, that they will never be hurt of what is called the second death. The second death have no power over them.

And it says in verse 14 of this chapter, the death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death to be cast into the everlasting lake of fire. You know, I’m not happy about the fact that there’s a hell, but I don’t set the rules. I didn’t write the Bible. I didn’t make this up. I’m just reporting and proclaiming what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches there is a hell. Did you know that Jesus spoke more about hell than he did about heaven?

And the Old Testament and New Testament both certainly teach a place of eternal torment, a place of eternal separation from God. Some will be in contempt of God forever and ever and ever, and others will experience everlasting life living in the presence of God forever and ever and ever. You don’t want to die, not having trusted Christ as your Savior, because there is no other Savior. There is no other way to heaven. Christ is the only way, and He said it clearly in John 14.6, I am the way, the truth and the life.

And no man, no man, no man, come unto the Father, but by me. Amazingly, a lot of people feel like salvation is in their church, or in their works, or in their deeds. Jesus didn’t say, your church is the way. He didn’t say that your Christian life is the way. He didn’t say that your righteous deeds and your good works are the way. Jesus said, I am the way. In other words, Jesus himself is the Savior. And unless you trust Him, you’re not going to make it.

He says, no man come unto the Father except by me. No No man, that means nobody. Nobody’s going to get in unless they trust Christ as a Savior. Earlier in John, Jesus talks to unbelievers and says, where I go, you cannot come. He’s talking about going back to heaven and he says, when I go back to heaven, you can’t come. Why? He says, because you don’t believe. And unless you believe or trust on Christ as your Savior, you cannot come.

Jesus many times invited the lost and said, come unto me and I will give you rest. Jesus is God who came and took on human flesh, and He offers eternal life. The forgiveness of sin, He offers a home in heaven, He offers almost everything you’d ever dream of as He will take care of your needs forever and ever if you only would come and trust Him as your Savior. Have you done that? If you haven’t my friend, you’re lost.

If you haven’t my friend, you can’t go where Jesus is today. My friend, if you haven’t trusted Christ, you’re going to wind up in hell. And the fires of that burning fiery furnace, the picture that we read about in Daniel, will hurt you. You’ll be in torment. The Bible says he’ll be weeping in gnashing of teeth day and night forever and ever and ever for those that are lost. You don’t want to risk that. You don’t want to have that happen to you.

And you don’t have to because God so loved the world. He gave his only the gotten son of his celebrity, who gave him his head, should not carry, but have everlasting life. 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. The 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.