Bibleline Radio Show – 2007-03-07

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Coming to you from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, declaring God’s love through radio and television, providing real answers to an ever-searching world. Got a question? Dial toll free at 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Now here’s the host of Bibleline, Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Well, good morning and welcome to Bibleline great to be with you today. Thanks for tuning into the broadcast. We look forward to being with you each and every day Monday through Friday as we come to you live from our studios right here in Tampa, Florida at the Calvary Community Church where I’m the pastor and we look forward to meeting our audience and seeing you.

If you ever get a chance to come by, you’re most welcome and you can visit our Resource Center every day Monday through Friday till about 4.30 in the afternoon and then also So you can come by on a worship day if you’d like to and join us for worship. This month we’ll have our regular dinner on the 25th of March because we’ll be in Israel on the third Sunday, so it’ll be the fourth Sunday. So you might want to make a note of that.

If you’re planning to come a distance to join us on our third Sunday worship day, it’s really going to be the fourth Sunday, March 25th this month because of Israel. We’re hoping to bring back some live broadcasts from Israel or at least that evening and play in the next morning and see you’ll get some updates on what’s going on in Israel from our perspective. I think you’ll enjoy that. We hope that you’ll be praying for us as we will leave for Israel, but our radio will continue.

We hope that many, if not most all of the programs will be able to be an update from Israel as we talk to you about the places that we will see. We want you to know that the Internet is available to you 24 hours a day. If you want to go to watch the TV programs we have or listen to the radio programs, we have about a year’s worth of programs in our conference. You can listen and listen and listen and you can download them for your audio icon so you might want to do that as well.

This is by the line. I’m Dr. Inkland Strim and we like to answer your questions. You can call us at 1-800-576-3671, 1-800-576-3771. 767-771, 1-800-576-3771. Write that down. Write that number down and have it handy someplace. If you would consider giving a gift to ByBlind this month, you can send it by mail or you can give it by credit card over the phone. Our operators will be glad to assist you. You can call and ask. And you can have a resource sheet sent out.

And they’ll be glad to send that out to you free of charge, which will let you see all of the things that we have. We have some wonderful tracks that really work and lead people to Christ. We have a CD in particular. It’s great for evangelism. If you get somebody to listen to it, we’ve seen a great success rate of people coming to know Christ as Savior as a result. And many other CDs and DVDs are available. We just finished this teaching of mine.

10 hours on Jesus is coming. That was exciting. On the last class, everybody broke into applause, and it really got people fired up. That Jesus is definitely coming. And you know the whole New Testament seems to everywhere talk about Christ coming again. Obviously, the resurrection is one of the most important because if Christ did not come back from the dead, how could they expect him to come back again? He’s coming again because he came back from the dead and he ascended to heaven.

And the Bible tells us the same Jesus that was crucified and ascended up into heaven is the same Jesus that will come back at the second coming. There is no so-called lost tomb of Jesus. That is absolutely a heresy. Jesus left an empty tomb. And every time I’ve gone to Israel, I’ve watched or looked at that tomb and there’s nobody, no bones there at all. And this other is a complete nonsense. If you read the biblical record, Christ was placed in a rich man’s tomb.

And nobody seems to get or even care, I guess, literally the facts that they. Talk about when they come up with something else whether they agree with the Bible or not. And of course, descriptions give us a plain description. We have callers already waiting to go today, and we have many, many author questions. So I believe we’re just going to go right to our callers and try to get these author questions caught up. We have Melissa in Tampa, Florida.

Welcome to Bibleline. You’re on the air. Are you talking to me, Melissa? Yes. Are you Melissa? Yes. Yes, I’m sorry. All right, you’re on the air. This is probably a question and a statement. It’s about the 144,000 in the book of Revelation. Okay. Okay. First of all, I want to know why Jesus made a comment to the Jews in Matthew 21 verse 43. He said, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation producing his fruit.

And then in Acts 1514 it says for the first time God has drawn out of people for his name out of all nations. Can you explain that please? Well that’s what he’s talking about that Israel would be put on the shelf in a sense for the past two thousand years and then he would go to the Gentile nations and take out of people for his name and that’s of course the church, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ.

And when this age concludes with the Rapture, then God is going to go back to Israel. But the Israel obviously had really departed from the Lord and from His Word. And Christ said that they had made the Word of God of not effect by their traditions and they had just really slipped far away. And I think we’re doing the same thing today in church age we’re getting to a time of real apostasy and departure from the scriptures and the goddess ready to wind up our age and go back to the Jews.

I see that every day in the church as they think of they think of the pleasures more than they do of God like when Paul was writing to young Timothy you know they think of more more of their you know like their houses, their cars, whatever more than themselves and they do that because I’ve actually been told to leave churches because I couldn’t support, you know, put in. Wow, that’s amazing, isn’t it? I know it is. It is. My husband too.

It’s because we want to go to your church, but we don’t know how to find it. Do it, Drode. Oh, my. Well, we’ll have to help you. Do you have internet access? We have a page on our website that says how to find us. It’s all set to go with you type in your address. Ours is already there and you hit go and it will give you absolute directions block by block or turn by turn right on how to get to us and how to find George Road.

Okay, what’s the number of George Road? It’s 4811 George Road and just go on the Internet site, Bible on Ministries.org and go to the page that says how to find us and you’ll find it’ll print on a map for you and everything if you have a computer. Okay. Thank you very much, brother. All right. Thank you, Melissa, for calling in today. We have so many off-air questions. I want to go ahead and try to tackle a few of them.

Greg in Tampa calls in leaves this off-air question. He says often here you recite Matthew 620 when talking about our rewards in heaven for our service to Christ here in this life. But never Luke 638 does Luke refer only to earthly rewards or both. Well, I think that passage there is talking about earthly rewards as to how we affect other people. But I think implied always is heavenly rewards and the Bible certainly tells us that the most important are those heavenly rewards because they’re forever.

The blessings and rewards we get here are only temporary and once our lives are over, which aren’t going to be that long, 70, 80, 90, some people living 100 years, my dad’s sister is still alive at 103 right now and she still has a very clear mind and good health. So wow, that’s amazing, but after that, you know, I don’t expect she’ll be run too much longer because 103 is quite a quite a lengthy life for her. But in any case, for when we get to heaven, it’s going to be forever and ever and ever and ever.

Thank you, Greg. I hope that helps a little bit. We have Mary in Utica, New York, and she says, God does not dwell in an unclean temple. Can you explain? Well, our bodies, of course, were sinners and God, the Holy Spirit does come and dwell in our bodies, but of course he sees us, proclaimed righteous based upon Christ’s death. In our place, but you’re right, God does come and dwell in our bodies and we still have a sinful nature.

And definitely the Bible tells us there’s a conflict there between the new nature which is born of God that is not capable of sinning. And the old nature that we have inherited from Adam that still has a desire to sin. Mary, it’s true. The Holy Spirit does dwell in us as believers, even though we are still in a sinful body. They’re absolutely right and that’s true. So it does happen. Vinnie and Hudson Florida calls in with this offer your question and the question is, was Lot’s wife saved?

And the answer is of course she was. The angel, the two angels that went into Sodom went in there for the very purpose of extracting or delivering the believers before they could bring judgment upon that city. And obviously the four, a lot in his wife and his two daughters, were the only saved in all of Sodom. And a lot’s wife though, disobeyed in leaving, she went back to get her purse and her makeup, I guess. went back for, but she turned back and was destroyed in the destruction of Sodom.

So she was disobedient as a Christian and lost her life for it, but she was still saved, obviously. We have Marjorie in Bradenton, Florida, and she says, who was King David’s mother? And I don’t know the answer to that question of Bathsheba was the mother of Solomon that David was the father of but I don’t recall right off hand and maybe I could look it up for you but King David’s mother I maybe one of our callers will do the research for me and call that in later in this program today.

All right we have I’m not sure if I’m pronouncing this right Jada in Port Charlotte, Florida and Jada welcome to Bible Aid. Hi Dr. Listero Ms. Jada. Jada okay. I was wondering in Proverbs 1 in 20 to 23 if it was talking specifically about wisdom or if it’s a portrait of Jesus Christ. In chapter 1, I know later in the book in chapter 8 it’s clearly talking about Christ but I think all wisdom comes from God, true wisdom and the Bible tells us in James if If we lack wisdom, we can ask of God and He will give us wisdom.

And of course, the real source of wisdom, as Proverbs 1 points out, is from God’s words and from His instruction. And it tells us in chapter 1 and chapter 2 about how we ought to seek after that wisdom. But I don’t really think chapter 1 there is talking about Christ Himself. But you could be right, and it could be, because certainly later in chapter 8, I don’t think without a doubt is talking about Christ. I hope that helps a little bit.

Thank you. And that was Jada out of Port Charlotte, Florida. And we have Joanne in Venice, Florida, calling in, leaving an off-air question. She says, what do you think about the Diggs Bible? Well, I have the Diggs Annotated Bible, and it’s got a lot of lists, if you like, lists of different things. But obviously, Dachshund is flawed. He has a long list of reasons why you can lose your salvation, which is totally incorrect. And there are other faults. I don’t think you ought to throw it out.

I mean, you can certainly clean good things, but you have to be on your toes. You don’t buy into false doctrine, whereas Dachshund Bible is definitely got false doctrine in it as not the scriptures, but the notes by Dr. Dake certainly teach that you can lose your salvation. That’s totally wrong. So I don’t really speak much about the next Bible because of that. I don’t want to cause somebody to stumble by reading notes that might be misleading. But if you’re a mature believer and you know you can’t lose your salvation, thanks can be a wonderful tool in giving you a number of lists and things that will help you in your studies and maybe teaching a lesson.

But be careful. Again, the only book that you can really count on is the Word of God and all others have to be evaluated in the light of God’s Word, including some of the good reference Bibles, not all the notes, even in the Scofield Bible. There’s a few notes that I would disagree with, but I really think the Scofield Bible has the best notes of any of the Bible’s out there and that’s what I use. We have Frank in Pample, Florida calls in with this offer question.

He says can a person while in the act of sinning? Still be saved in the answers of course. Yes In fact, it says in Romans 5 8 that Christ, you know while we were yet sinners that actually means from the Greek that while we’re yet in the act of committing sins Christ died for us and certainly we still sin and and you know a lot of people don’t really get the full definition of sin. But one of the aspects of sin that James describes to us, and James 4 17, James says to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

So when we know that there are things that we ought to do as a Christian, not to be saved,Denver has a believer of responsibilities, if we fail to do them we are sinning. I learned a little boy that I could get in trouble for what I didn’t do. I’ll never forget one day my dad came home and he said, son, you’re in trouble. I said, why? I haven’t done anything. He says, that’s your problem. You’re supposed to help your mom today and you’re supposed to carry out the garbage and you were supposed to clean up your room and you didn’t do anything.

And I got punished. Well, obviously the same thing is true with the Lord. There are things like we ought to read our Bible, we ought to pray, we ought make sure that we attend church faithfully to fellowship with other believers of precious faith. We ought to be giving, we ought to be witnessing. There’s lots of things that are obligations placed upon the believer not to save us. We’re saved by the blood of Christ and His death alone. But to earn rewards in blessings and to have God reward us, it comes my serving.

I was my dad’s son, whether I did my chores or didn’t do my chores, but to be rewarded or to be punished was dependent upon my behavior. The same thing is true in God’s family. You’re a member of his family when you become born again when you trust Christ, but then your rewards are based upon obedience or disobedience. If you’re disobedient, then God will chase him or discipline you and so on. We have Jim in Venice, Florida. He calls in, leaves this off for a question.

He says to find believers. The word belief from the Greek is pestuo, P-I-S-T-E-U-O. It really means to trust, to rely upon, to put your confidence in, to rest your weight upon. And that is the definition. And it’s of course putting your trust in Jesus Christ. And when you trust Christ as the one who died for you and shed his blood at the cross of Calvary, God saves you. And when you trust him, when you rely upon him, when you put your confidence in him, when you rest your weight upon Christ as the only means of your salvation, then God saves you and saves you eternally.

Jim says, well, if that be the case, how does Mark 8, 34 through 38 fit with this? And of course, in Mark 8, 34 on, it’s talking not about how to be saved, but it’s talking about after you’re saved how that we ought to serve the Lord. You’ll notice in verse 34 there of Mark 8, it talks about following Christ, it talks about coming after Christ, it talks about denying Self. All of that has to do with the Christian life.

When Jesus said, follow me in Matthew 419 to his disciples, he said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. He didn’t ever say, follow me and you’ll be saved, but to be a follower of Christ or be a disciple of Christ is going to cost you something. And you’re saved by simply trusting Christ, but then he says in verse 34, here, come after me. And then of course in the following verses he’s talking about prophet in verse 36 where he He says, here, what shall it profit a man?

If you should gain the whole world and lose his, it should read life. And what it’s saying there is if you have your pursuits set on earthly riches and earthly pursuits, even if you gain the whole world, what profit would you have when you go to heaven? in a sense forfeited the opportunity you had to have treasures in heaven. And so you’ll have no profit in heaven, even though you may have had all the profit you possibly could have had here.

So you need to really make choices. In other words, you need, as it says earlier in verse 34, to deny the maybe the The things that you might want to do and choose the things that God would have you to do and when you deny yourself and then you fall in line with God’s Word you’re going to be earning rewards in heaven and you’ll have profit. It’s not talking here about conditions on how to be saved. Jim in Venice, Florida also says, well, how does it fit with Matthew 7 21 through 23.

And of course, there is talking about people that are not saved at all. And that’s another ballgame. In Matthew 7, it says, this is a crowd that will say, many will say to me, Christ says, in that day, that’s the great white throne judgment he’s referring to that’s described in Revelation 20 verses 11 through 15. And it says, in Matthew 7, 22, they say to Christ, in that day, Lord, Lord, let us acknowledge the Lordship of Christ. And then they’re obedient to the Lordship of Christ and they brag about that and they say, look at what we’ve done, why we have preached in the name of Christ, we’ve healed in the name of Christ, and we’ve done many wonderful works in the name of Christ.

And Jesus said unto them, I never knew you. They part for me that work in equity. So they were never saved. He didn’t say, I once knew you and I lost you. He said, I never knew you. And they were never known of Christ because they were trusting in their works and bragging about it. The Bible, if they had only said, Lord, we trusted that you died and you shed your blood for us at the cross and you were buried and you rose again from the dead, then Christ would have said, come on in.

But notice they’re trusting in their works to save them and works won’t save you. So as long as you try to be saved by your works, you’ll never be saved. We’re going to Kyle now down in Sarasota, Florida and Kyle, you’re on the air. Hey, Dr. Hey, I’m a talking on Elijah. on ahab and gesabelle i know i’d just about with a farner but ahab was a child of Israel right and um… repented one allowed to came and prophesied his death was he saved or did that i don’t i don’t believe they have ever got saved no and he is wife brought false teaching into israel and of course uh…

the profits of bail were really all uh… sponsored by uh… jesebel she she brought in a whole false worship system and i don’t think either one of them uh… we’re safe I got him going and rolling around in an ash, what he calls, sackcloth and ashes. It just meant that he realized what he’s done. we felt bad for what he did but he he i don’t think ever one of trusting uh… christ is saviour uh… i have i don’t think we’re gonna see him in heaven i think even even judas you know it says it repented him that he had uh…

uh… betrayed the lord you know and But that is a different word than the metanoi that I talk about all the time. This is a word that’s only used a couple times in the New Testament. It means regret or sorrow. So he was sorrowful for what had happened there. And he did regret it. But Judas never became a believer. He died as an unbeliever. And that’s why Judas went to hell. They knew they did that. They couldn’t change the outcome.

They never really came about to a change of mind where they got saved. got saved. They, you know, people do that. You know, sometimes people experience regret over things that they’ve done, but yet they still don’t trust the Lord. And that’s the case here with these, both of these. I think they have been Judas for both being a category like that. So thank you, Kyle. Hi, thank you. Alright, that was Kyle down in Sarasota, Florida. We have now Jim in Clearwater and Jim, welcome to Bibleline You’re on there.

Good morning. How are you good? I have a question that I would like you to address Ralph. Have you heard anything about that? Yeah, he’s totally mixed up for fella. I feel sorry for Yes, that’s true I just wondered if you could comment on that for the benefit of those people who obviously are being deceived by his doctrines at the present time well, I tell you he is really a strange basket of fruit and when you listen to him he goes really wild and tells us that we shouldn’t attend church anymore because this age is already over and I just don’t know what to take except that he’s not connected to the Bible because the Bible certainly wouldn’t support the things that he’s telling you and I would just not listen to him if I could give a recommendation because we need to be careful and first on four four

1-4, others says in verse 1, beloved, it says, don’t be gullible. Don’t believe every person you hear because many false teachers are going out into the world. And I would have to categorize some of these teachings of Him as He’s teaching falsely. So I would watch out. I would be very careful. I hope everybody listening today has trusted Christ as Savior if you haven’t. Just tell the Lord, Lord, I’m trusting in you and your death at Calvary, your shed blood is the only means of my soul.

Revelation and the fact that you are buried in rose again from the dead when you trust Christ Alone as your Savior God saves you then there’s a second choice That’s where we can choose to serve him and that’ll bring about rewards in heaven I hope you’ve enjoyed this first half of the program. We’re gonna do a second half in just a minute and If you haven’t given to Bible and would you consider giving a gift this month? You can call and do it on the phone by credit card or you can call and we’ll send you an envelope with our address on it.

But your gift would be very helpful and certainly I hope you’ll give a generous gift to Bible on. But no gift is too small. We certainly thank God for everyone who prays for and gives a gift of any amount to Bible on the earth. You’re the means by which we stay on the air and God bless all of you for giving to Bible on. a break but we’ll come back into a second half hour so don’t go away. Keep your radio dial tuned right where it is.

Don’t go away. Bibleline will be back in a moment. Give us a call at 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Well thank you for listening today. I’m Dr. Engvenson. This is Bibleline. We’re coming to you live from Camp Florida from our studios here at the Calvary Community Church where on the pastor and we always invite our listeners to come by if you’re ever in Tampa from wherever you might come in to Tampa from. Welcome and we’re right next to the Tampa airport so we’re easy to find and we hope you’ll take that extra minute and swing by and say hi we’re really about a block west of the main north south runway so we’re close to the airport.

I just wanted to kind of give you that visual. I always feel like I can sometimes reach out and slap those airplanes. We’re so close. And so when you come by, and if you fly in, especially, you might want to swing by and just say, hi, we’re open every day till about 4.30 in the afternoon. And if I’m here, I’d love to get to meet you. And we’d like to have you visit a resource center. And of course, you’re welcome to come by on a worship day.

We’re getting ready to go to Israel, and we will try to bring some programs to you from Israel which is exciting. We hope that you will continue to listen while we are there and hopefully get updates from us and we will tell you what is going on. From our perspective what it is like to be in Israel at this point and Lord willing we might go back again pretty soon. So keep listening about when you might get in on the next trip.

I have had a lot of people tell me, wow let me know when the next one will happen and I would like to go with you to Israel. Of course we’d like to have you join us on a trip like that. It’s really incredible because you begin to visualize the Bible when you come back and it really helps you so much. Understand things that you would otherwise not capture if you hadn’t actually visited there. I had so many childhood impressions that were just totally wrong and dispelled once I got to Israel and actually saw the land and so on.

And just absolutely a marvelous experience and I recommend everybody do it at least once in your lifetime. We want to thank all of you who have been prayed about for Bible Life because you’re the ones who keep this program on the air. We really couldn’t be on the air without your financial help and your prayers of course. And I want to thank in advance for giving for the month of March If you will give us a gift to help Bibleines down the air, that would be wonderful.

You can do it by credit card over the phone or you can call our 800 number and our operators will be glad you send you an envelope with our address on it. But consider giving us some help this month and God bless you. We thank you in advance for doing that. We’re ready to rejoin other stations that have been on the second half hour. So keep your radio tuned right where it is. And don’t go away and if you get on the internet and catch the full program there.

Would you like to call Bibleline and ask Dr. Lindstrom a question? You can. Just pick up your phone and dial 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Now here again is Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Alright, we’re back from that break. And this is Bibleline. I’m Dr. Hank Lindstrom and we’re coming to you live from our studios right here in Tampa, Florida. here in Tampa, Florida at the Calvary Community Church. You’re always welcome to come by. We are friendly and we want people to come.

And a lot of people come when they do come and say, wow, they’re such a nice family atmosphere at Calvary Community Church. Everybody is welcomed and no one is put down or turned away. No one gets any more special treatment than anyone else. We love all of you and we’d love to have you come by visit us sometimes. If you ever come in Tampa from another state and other place where you’re listening to Bibleline and we know that we’re on many stations across the country.

Apparently we’re being heard from all the way up in Massachusetts and New York and Vermont and some of those places and all the way across into Michigan and all the way down to here at the state of Florida and Alabama and everything in between. So come on, see us and we live the heavy do that. I want to thank all those who pray and give for my give the Bibleline. You’re the ones who keep us on the air. We don’t have any means of support outside of our listeners.

We’re totally dependent upon you. And God has raised up people just like you who enjoy this program who would like to see it continue. And so it is your gifts that make that happen. I want to thank you personally and say God bless you for your prayers and for your gifts, the Bible and which keep us on the air. And by the way, we have a resource center and when you get things from our resource center that helps us also a little bit.

And we appreciate all of you getting the resources that we have. We have so many wonderful things. We have some great books. We have one on the Bible translations which has been a topic of interest to so many people, New Age Bible versions. That book is about 800 pages and covers about 20 of the modern translations and tells you why they’re wrong. We have a number of materials about tongues, why the modern day tongues movement is not the real thing.

That tongues ceased 2000 years ago and I have a DVD presentation on that, a CD presentation. We’ve got a book called New Testament Teaching on Tuns by Merle Unger. Absolutely excellent materials and It just shows you from the Bible that the gibberish being done today is not the biblical gift of a specific language and a specific dialect like the Bible teaches. We have the strongest importance, an excellent, excellent study aid as it gives you by a number code system access to Hebrew and Greek and the original words and the original meanings, and it really is a marvelous tool.

You don’t need to know Hebrew Greek to be able to use it. That’s the nice thing and it will really help you in Your understanding of the scriptures like Greek tent was wrong a Bad translation the Greek word metanoia should have never been translated into the English word repent And that’s where the problem developed Repent really means if you go back to the Greek word to change your mind It does not mean the turn from sin. It does not mean sorrow for sin.

The English word does mean that. That’s the problem. But the Greek word metanoia simply means a change of mind. This is a great study tool. And of course the Schofield Bible, which we recommend the old over the new, has notes sent it a hundred years ago that point out this very same thing, that the Greek word is metanoia and it means a change of mind. And many other notes that really help clarify doctrines and make them clear. Easy to understand.

What a thank you in advance for your support, your prayers to Bibleline and if you haven’t given a gift to Bibleline this month of March, would you please consider calling in today and maybe leaving a gift to help Bibleline pay its expenses and stay on the air in your area. We’re going to go to James now in Nashville, Tennessee and James. Welcome to Bibleline. You’re on the air.

Yeah. I had a I had three when Jesus speaks of teeth and how it sure is. That’s what will happen in hell. It’s not a nice place to go to. It’s a place where you’ll be in flame and torment day and night forever and ever. And the Bible says that there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth as people will be in agony forever. It’s just a horrible place and obviously I’m just telling you what the Bible says and I truly believe the hell is real and I wouldn’t want for it.

anyone to go there. That’s why we are proclaiming that the wonderful message of Christ, the gospel, so that people would trust Christ and not go there because Christ made provision so that everyone can go to heaven. Not one person has to go to hell. If they trust Christ, they won’t ever, ever be there at all. And so, yes, absolutely. Okay, the second question is in John chapter 15, he says, a husband and every branch that is in me there’s not for a sixty-two a man by not me he’s got to work with the branch men gather them up catch them in the fire in the question is a non-believer be a branch in in the true line well none of them stop talking about losing your salvation there uh…

the other four categories of christians uh… in uh… if says every branch in me now if you’re in price you’re saved and every believer is a branch in the vine. But there are those that produce no fruit, and then there are those who produce fruit, and then there are those who produce more fruit and then much fruit. So there’s no fruit, fruit, more fruit, much fruit for categories of Christians. And the first one, it says he take it away.

Not the same concept as you read in verse six there. So make sure you understand that the branch is saved, but he, I believe, takes him home to heaven early. Verse six is talking about rewards and how that men don’t receive the testimony of a branch or believer that’s not living for Christ and abiding in Christ. And so his testimony is like a branch that is not producing fruit if you were to be a farmer or even just prune your own bushes outside your house.

you would throw away the branches that are non-productive and not producing leaves and fruit and burn them up. And effectively, it’s saying there that the non-fruit-bearing Christian obviously has no testimony and that is men gather them, not Christ. So they’re cast into the fire, referring to their testimony. The believer will never be cast into any kind of fire, but the believers’Aboves works one day will be tested by fire at the Judgment’s seat of Christ in 1 Corinthians 3, 11 through 15.

It says every man’s work that is a believer will be judged by fire at the Great White Throne Judgment. And if any man’s work abide, he’ll receive reward. But if any man’s work will be burned, he’ll suffer loss and he’ll still be saved. So there’s nothing in there about loss and salvation. passages about fruit bearing and how that by bearing fruit we are obviously going to glorify the Father. Verse 8 tells us that. Jesus is telling us that our joy might be full verse 11.

So to be full of joy as a Christian we need to be fruit bearing. Very. Okay. And also in Matthew, chapter 25, we read about the parable of the talents. Could you explain this to me? And also the parable says that the king went and came to his own servants and gave his own servants talents according to their own abilities. And one of the servants was not faithful to his Lord and put his money to his talents work and everything.

And that’s right. The picture is the millennium and Christ is king of the whole earth. And whether you’re a believer or an unbeliever, you are a subject of the king. So you’re his servant. That’s where people go wrong. But if you read verse 21 verse 23 the first two are called good and faithful. And if you notice carefully because they’re good, by the way good, there’s none good according to Romans 3.12. So to be good you have to be saved and the righteousness of God has been credited to your count so they were good and because of that they enter in.

He says, and because they’re faithful, they’re going to be rewarded. And he says, I’ll give you the privilege of ruling over many. Then the next one, the same thing is good and faithful. He is good or saved. He’s a believer. And that is what establishes him as being good. But then he’s rewarded for being faithful. You notice that last guy we’re talking about, he’s called wicked and slothful. Now wicked is the term always used of unbelievers. because they’re standing before God in their own righteousness, which is wickedness or unrighteousness.

And not only was this guy an unbeliever and wicked, but he was slothful. So that talks about his conduct. Unbelievers will have their works examined one day to determine the degree of punishment and hell. So he not only goes to hell because he’s wicked, but he will be assigned a degree of punishment based upon his works or his slothfulness. And you’ll notice he’s cast into outer darkness and again is weeping in ash and feet. So this guy is lost, but the first two were saved and the word servant throws people off because in this case when Christ gives back his king and rules over the earth, everyone saved and lost are his subjects.

So the last one is wicked. The first two are saved. In other words, Romans 3, 12 says there is none the doeth good, no not one. There is none righteous, no not one. So without Christ we are all wicked or we are all not capable of doing anything good in God’s sight. But the first one and the second one are both called good which means they have to be believers or they couldn’t be called righteous or good. And then in addition to that it talks about their Christian life and they are faithful.

So it says, enter thou unto the joy of the They enter because they’re saved and because they’re believers. Then it says here because you’re faithful, you’ll be given power to rule over many cities. And the second one, the same thing. And then the last guy, he doesn’t call him good, he calls him wicked. And wicked is a description from the book of Genesis on of anybody who’s an unbeliever. You’re nicest neighbor, you’re block. If they’re an unbeliever, according to the Bible, or wicked.

And that’s a concept you have to get in your head where God views us as if you’re an unbeliever, your righteousness is my righteousness is filthy rags. Isaiah 64, 6. So the unbeliever is by definition wicked because he stands before God and his filthy rags and his works. But the believer stands before God in the righteousness that’s been credited to his account and he’s called good or righteous. Now this guy was definitely insane. Okay thank you. Is it possible to ask one more question?

Okay go ahead, go for it. In the book of Revelations we read about after the, the devil goes about to gather up God, this people and I think he said, since he gathers up God and they go, or at least God, I can’t remember, but anyway. Well, God and they go is really a reference to Satan himself. The word God means prince and Magog means his land. And so Satan here is gathering up unbelievers at the end of the millennium to come against Christ.

And it’s the most amazing thing because you would think that with Christ living here on the earth and the earth filled with his knowledge that everybody would be a believer. But it shows even while Satan is bound up, this is happening. And it shows you the wickedness of the human heart that those that become born during the millennium will have a sin nature inherited from Adam, they will need to get saved. And apparently without Satan around to blame the wickedness of the human’s heart is such that many millions by the end of the thousand years will be around that will not be believers and Satan is loose just for the purpose of demonstrating that.

He rounds them up and brings them against the Lord and the Lord destroys them real quickly. It shows again the fact that man’s sinful nature is really bad. It says in Jeremiah 17, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. That’s the human nature that we have inherited from Adam. So you don’t think that’s the same dog and my dog in the book of Ezekiel? Oh, no, definitely not. Two different titles, but there the prince is the head of Russia, and his land is of course Russia.

So in Revelation 20 it’s talking about Satan being the prince and his land being the earth that he’s attempting to recapture the earth that he lost when Christ defeated him at the cross. Thank you so much. You’re listening here in Nashville, Tennessee. Uh, James. So we have Maryanne in Sarasota, Florida. Maryanne. Welcome to Bibleline, oh. Hello, Dr. Hank. Um, I wanted to ask you. Can you, will you decided for me service reward, um, money. speak crown, and work, Alright, uh, service is of course what what a believer does after they become saved.

And it’s according to Romans 12.1, our reasonable service. We do it out of a choice that we make because God loved us and Christ died for us and in view of that mercy, Revelation 12 verse 1 says, in view of the mercy that God has had upon us that we should present our bodies a living sacrifice. and it says it’s only reasonable that we would do that because we owe our lives to him. He gave his life so that we could be saved.

And of course rewards are earned and that is what we get after we become saved by serving him. And when we serve the Lord, rewards are in mind. When we trust him, salvation is always spoken of as a gift. We never ever are to mix that up. Salvation is the gift of God. Romans 6, 23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. So eternal life is the gift of God. And when you trust Christ, you’re saved forever.

Crowns, there are five crowns that a believer can earn. And each of those crowns are earned in a different way. There’s the Soloners Crown in 1 Thessalonians 2, 19, and 20. There is the Teacher’s Crown in 1 Peter 5, 4. the crown for those who suffer for Christ in James 1 12. There is the crown for the one who keeps his body in subjection and is morally pure living for Christ in 1 Corinthians 9 27. And then there’s the crown that everybody gets that is looking for Christ to return and lives his life accordingly in 1st Timothy 4-8, 2nd Timothy 4-8.

So those are five crowns that you can earn. And works of course means any effort put forth on, you know, from your body, any effort that is expended by you as classified or defined as work. So you can do works for God and the only believers really can do that and receive reward for it, or you can do works as an unbeliever, but it won’t get you to have an unbelievers will be judged according to their works to determine degree of punishment.

They will go to hell because they’re unbelievers. Believers will go to heaven because they’re believers, but their works will be examined to determine degree of reward in heaven. I hope that helps a little bit. Well, you know, so then works in service are the same. Well, when we serve, we do works, that we do good works. Yeah, but we don’t do them to be saved. It says in Ephesians 2, 10 that we who have been saved, who have trusted Christ, are His workmanship, that we are born again in Christ Jesus, unto good works which God had before day and that we should walk in them.

So, believer ought to serve and do good works and that God’s purpose for us after we become saved. But it doesn’t save us. We don’t serve to be saved, but we serve because we are saved. And so those would be like being a teacher of God’s Word. That’s one of the ways? One of them. What was the first one you said? There’s the soul in his crown. If you need anyone to Christ, that tells us that you’ll receive a crown for every person you lead to Christ.

So if you lead one person to Christ, you’re going to get a crown in heaven for doing that. If you leave ten people to Christ, I believe you get ten crowns. Okay. I never understood that. I mean, I’m so glad that I could ask you this and you would clarify it for me. Well, thank you so much. Well, thank you, Marianne. You keep listening down there in Sarasota, Florida. All right. Bye-bye. That was Marianne in Sarasota, Florida. We have now Adam in Tampa, Florida.

And Adam, welcome to Bibleline you’re on the air. Yes, the question is from First Timothy in chapter 6, the part where it talks about contentment. I was just wondering if you could give a little bit of commentary on the contrast between five verse five and verse six and I’ll hang up and listen. Okay, that’s… that was the first Timothy chapter 6. It says here in verse 5.

It is perverse disputing of men, of corrupt minds, and destitute of truth. Supposing that gain is godliness from such withdrawal by self. You know a lot of people think, boy, if you make a lot of money, that God is really blessing you, and that is not necessarily so. But it says here, godliness living for the Lord with contentment is great gain. If you You can be pleased in whatever situation you find yourself in. Paul said he knew how to abound and he knew how to be abased.

He spent a lot of time in jail for preaching the gospel and was deprived of the luxuries of life. And yet Paul was singing in the jail at Philippi. At midnight, the jailer heard Paul and Silas singing God’s praises. They must have thought they were crazy. But of course, we find that when God opened the prison doors and Paul didn’t try to escape, Paul was able to lead that jailer to Christ. And of course, that was one of the elements that began the church at Philippi.

We have a doubt in there, but anyway, Adam, I hope that helps answer that question for you. You have Skip in Largo, leaves this off for your question. He says, how do you explain the progression of the cave-in, the transformation of skulls and walking upright? Well guess what? I believe that’s a lot of nonsense. And what I mean by that is they pick out, you know, the first man is a… in the Bible is, of course, Adam. But in the so-called progression you see in many textbooks and so on, that’s all man-made.

There is no transition between apes and men. And there’s either men or there are apes. There’s no connection at all. I think DNA is going to really help in this area to show you that this whole idea of evolution is crazy. You know, artists draw these distinctions in these charts, and I think that’s also a lot of nonsense. You know, you can tell nothing from the bones about the soft areas of the body, the cartilage. So the shape of the nose, the shape of the ears, the size and shape of the lips, That’s all conjecture on the part of the artist.

Also, skin color, skin pigmentation, all of that is all conjecture on the part of the artist who draws that for the person who’s of the mindset of evolution. And then also hair. How much hair? You notice in these charts they have them with a lot of hair and less and less hair to find that you get modern man and very little hair in the body. And again, you can’t prove that from the bones. This is absolutely a setup by those who believe in evolution.

There is no such thing. Now, this thing about cavemen. There are cavemen today in the Mediterranean on the onus Cyprus. A lot of the jet setters, young rich and wealthy children of rich families, go there and they fly there in the jets and they hang out and they live in caves. somewhat of a sport, but so living in a cave doesn’t qualify you to do anything. There are people who still live in caves. And this is just a concept that has been pushed on us in the textbooks.

But I believe that Adam was created by God out of the dust of the ground, Genesis 2.7, and God breathed in the man his breath and man became a living soul. Skip, I think those charts are severely flawed. And obviously, I think we’re being sold a lie, this whole concept of evolution. I’m so glad I trusted Christ as my Savior at 18 when I finally discovered the truth. And I went on to the University of Florida, graduated in electrical engineering.

Little did I realize that God would change the direction of my life in those years as I began to witness and lead people to Christ and I found so many. We’re like I being raised in church and never heard how to be saved. And everybody needs to share this story if you’re a believer. Your family members, and I remember when we got saved, that my sister who brought me to a Bible study where I got saved, the two of us got my other brother and my other sister saved and then we got Bob and Dad saved and then our whole family worked on the extended family and We got most everybody saved over a period of years and years as we worked on people and tried to make sure that they knew how to be saved.

We didn’t want any of our family to wind up going to hell. And by the way, for that question, at the beginning of the program, we have Doug just now called in from Pensacola, Florida, and he says in 2 Samuel, it says, Hey, Shash, I’d rather, Hey, Ash is the mother of Abigail. In 1 Chronicles 2, it tells us in verse 16 that apparently she is the mother of David. I hope that’s correct. I haven’t checked it out, but thank you, Doug, for calling in and sharing that with us.

We’ve got a run. If you haven’t given a gift to Bibleline this month, would you consider giving a gift? Also, pray for us. We could use your prayers. This is Wednesday. We’ll be back again tomorrow. So I hope you’ll tune us in. You can go to the internet and catch us 24-7. And I hope you’ll look at our online resource center on the internet as well. Keep looking up. Jesus is coming. And I believe soon. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida.

Your donation to Bibleline makes it possible for this ministry to continue in your area. address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Or visit Bibleline Online at BiblegdalainMinistries.com. Be sure to tune in for another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church of Tampa, Florida. Well thankpointers for tuning in to Bibleline today. I’m Dr. Englund Stearman. It’s Wednesday. We’ve had a great time and I hope you’ll catch us on Thursday and Friday. I have the information on the Internet you can catch us anytime of day or night.

And we have a whole year’s programs. I understand sitting there, in our time that you can listen to, and download for your iPod and carry the programs with you wherever you go. In any case, I hope the Bible lines are blessing to you, and you can also catch our Bibleline television programs. And of course in the Tampa Bay area we’re on in the morning at eight o’clock and again at seven o’clock in the evening Tomorrow Thursday will be oneligible Channel 321 at 630 nationwide at Eastern time 630 Eastern time you can catch us anywhere in the country Also, pray for us and if you can give a gift to Bible and that would be really helpful We are totally dependent upon our listeners to be able to be on the air.

So if you would call our 800 number, you can give a gift by credit card over the phone. You can also get us to send you an envelope with our address on it, and then you can send a gift in by mail. And in any case, pray for us, and we want to thank you in advance for praying for us and supporting us, and your gifts are essential to keep the program going. So pray about that if you haven’t given yet.

For the month of March, would you consider calling us today and leaving a gift by cutting card over the phone and pray for us that God would continue to bless as we reach out with this wonderful message of the Bible and answer questions for people. I remember what it was like to be a little boy and had nobody to answer my questions and I wish I had a program to listen to like Bible. When I was small because I had so many and I know many of you are much older and still have the same kind of questions It never got resolved for you Then in case I’m Dr.

Englund sir. We have to run. We’ll be back tomorrow. Keep looking up. Jesus is coming and Join us again tomorrow on Bible. I have a great one. Bye You’ve been listening to Bibleline a presentation of Bibleline ministries of Tampa, Florida Your donation to Bibleline makes it possible for this ministry to continue in your area Bible lines address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634, or visit Bibleline Online at BibleLineMinistries.com. Be sure to tune in for another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church of Tampa, Florida.