Bibleline Radio Show – 2008-01-21

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 Godsecuting 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. You’re welcome to Bibleline. I’m 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 Tampa, Florida from our studios right here at the Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida.

We’re sure to thank you for tuning in today, and we hope that you’ll tune us in all week long. And we ought to have a great week. We’re looking forward to it. Yesterday, we had our webcast up, we had people in Australia watching our live worship service as we stream it to the internet. You can watch that also. You can watch it in archive throughout the week. We have a year’s worth of sermons waiting for you there and also you can watch it live on Sunday morning if you go there at 11 a.m.

and we’re excited about Australia yesterday as well as Europe and Canada watching our worship service live on the internet. Isn’t that amazing? BibleLineMinistries.org is the website BibleLineMinistries.org. We’ll say it again later and write it down and check it out for yourself. I think you’ll enjoy it. We’re getting ready to go to Israel Wednesday. You must make a commitment by credit card to reserve your seat if you want to go. So we’re getting down to the water and after that you might still possibly go, We might have to get you over there on a hot air balloon or something else because the airline will not hold the seats any longer.

So if you want to go, I’d love to have you go trip number 15. So just give me a call today and we’ll try to get you going. I’ll tell you what to do and we’ll have a wonderful time. That’s February 25th. We leave on a Monday. Coming back on March 7th, a Friday, you’ll have a wonderful time. We’re going to be talking about the scriptures and then we’ll be taking our live callers. If you would like to call, it’s 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. Please give us a call and we’d love to hear from you today and we’ll try to answer your questions and we hope you will. We had visitors from all over the country yesterday at our worship service. We’re excited about meeting people from Missouri, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from other states. And it was nice to get to meet folks that are Bibleline listeners. You’re welcome to come by during the week. Our resource center is open every day till 4.30.

If you can’t, our resource center is online. You can take a look at it right there. If you can come by for a worship service, we’d love to have you do that. If you can’t, you can catch those worship services on the website BibleLineMinistries.org. We have some wonderful books in our resource center. We have the Jamison-Fossett-Brown commentary, three volumes. It’s my favorite. Also we have the Jay Vernon McGee commentary, five volumes. That’s a $200 set retail, and we have it for a gift of $100 to Bibleline.

You’ll find it’s incredible. Guess what? Tomorrow night we have classes on a Peter. First Peter we’re studying now and we had class one and two last Tuesday. And tomorrow night if you’re in the area you can come and sit in the classroom with me. Class three and four. Now we are recording these on CD and also on DVD. And you can order this series if you’d like. We had a great crowd and we had a wonderful time studying Peter and we’ll be doing that again tomorrow night.

So, if you’re in the area where you can drive in, we start about 715 and in about 915 and you can take the class I’m offering on 1 Peter. I hope you’ll join me. We’re going to talk a little bit about parables today contrary to what most people think and have been taught. Jesus Christ spoke in parables to hide or conceal truth from those who didn’t really Wanna know truth? Did you hear that? Jesus Christ spoke in parables to hide or conceal truth from those who didn’t really want to know truth.

Usually you’ll hear something like this. Jesus Christ spoke in parables to illustrate the truth in order that it might be clear and understandable. Not so. Not so. Not so. Let the Scriptures speak for themselves. Jesus said in Mark 4, unto you is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God, but unto them that are without, all of them are not. without all these things are done in parables. Listen up now that seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may hear and not understand lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them.

Did you hear that? Let me quote that again. Jesus said here that he did these things in parables that seeing they may see and not perceive in hearing they may hear and not understand lest at any time they should be converted and their sins be forgiven. And that’s Mark’s Gospel chapter 4, 11 and 12. Jesus, Jesus plainly states that He spoke in parables so that people would not understand what He’s saying. Jesus plainly says He spoke in parables so that people would not understand what He’s saying.

And you’re probably scratching your head and saying, this doesn’t sound right. Well, obviously we’ve all been taught wrong and that was one of those. I have a book on myself beautifully designed cover and on the back you see a nice picture of the author and there he says that Christ spoke in parables to make the truth clear. I didn’t even bother to read the book. Why? Because he had it wrong from the get-go. Let me quote Christ again. He said he spoke in parables, Mark 4, 11 and 12, that seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may hear and not understand less than any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them.

Jesus plainly states that he spoke in parables so that people would not understand what he is saying. Well does that sound strange? Does that sound strange? Does that sound unusual? Well listen to this prayer of Jesus in Matthew 11.25. He says, I thank the O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, because Thou has hid these things. Thou has hid these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them unto babies. In this prayer, Jesus is thanking the Father for hiding the truth from certain people.

Those that are proud and those that are wise in their own understanding, those that really aren’t seeking truth will really be prevented from getting the truth. Yet a baby, a child who wants to know the truth, can understand the gospel and become saved. Let me quote that prayer again, Matthew 11.25, I thank the old father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babies. Isn’t that amazing?

Jesus thanks the Father for hiding truth from certain people. All parables, therefore, must be interpreted in the light of clear, doctrinal statements. We should never contradict a clear statement of Scripture with a Scripture passage we don’t understand. For example, Jesus said in John 6.47, barely, verily I say unto you, he that believeeth on me has everlasting life. This statement is clear. The Proclamation is final. Nothing in the Bible contradicts this wonderful verse. In fact, all other scripture must be interpreted in the light of this verse.

Any interpretation of scripture that contradicts John 647 would be a wrong interpretation. That’s the way you approach the Bible. You always interpret the difficult and the light of the clear. Parables are obviously difficult. They are meant to conceal truth, not reveal truth, they are meant to conceal, not reveal. Let me quote this wonderful verse from Deuteronomy. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law, Deuteronomy 29, 29.

We find this verse a wonderful truth that the truths of God’s Word are for the saved, the believer, not for the unbeliever. That is why the Bible says that the unbeliever really cannot understand the Bible. 1 Corinthians 2, 14 says the natural man, the unsaved man, receive not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. Jesus also said in John 8, 47, He is good as of God here with God’s words.

You therefore hear them not because you are not of God. Are you hearing what is being said here? The Word of God is such an incredible book. It’s like a filter. For those who want to know the truth, they get right through the barriers and they understand the truth and receive Christ. But those who don’t want to know truth can read the Bible. I met one person. He said he had read the Bible eight times. But guess what? He didn’t understand anything he’d read.

Didn’t have a clue. Didn’t have a clue. Very bright individual. Well read. in many fields, but read the Bible eight times and didn’t learn a thing. That can happen because unless you come wanting to know the truth, the truth will be blocked from you. Maybe you’ve never heard this before, but it’s clear in the Bible that the unsaved man can understand the gospel, but very little other of the scriptures will understand. Paul tells us that the gospel messages the key.

It’s the power of God and the salvation Romans 1 16. If the unbeliever believes or trusts on an award Jesus Christ as his Savior, then boom! It’s like the lights turned on. The Bible becomes opened up to him. Well, there are several things that we know. First of all, God is sovereign, and in his sovereignty he gave man a free will to accept to reject the salvation that he has provided. It is God’s will that all would be saved and none would perish, but God foreknows, but does not predetermined any man to be condemned.

God permits man’s destiny to depend upon man’s choice. Secondly, God promises to get the truth of the gospel to the person who is seeking. Jeremiah 29, 13 says, and you shall seek me, and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart. So if you want to know the truth, God will open that truth up to you. Number three, a person who does not want truth will go further in the darkness. Romans 1, 21 says, because when they knew God, not as a Savior, but they knew there was a God.

They glorified him, not as God. Neither were they thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Their foolish heart was darkened.” Here’s a quote from Dr. Schofield. I love the Schofield Bible. This is one of his notes. He says, Paul divides men into three classes. That of the senses or the natural, that is the unsafe man. And then we have the man who is born again. And then we have the carnal Christian who also is barely able to comprehend the simplest truths of Scripture.

As a believer, even, you need to be seeking and wanting to know truth if you want the Bible to become open to you. David prayed and asked the Lord to open his eyes to see the wonderful truths that were contained in his word. Do you read the Bible and ignore what God has said? As an unbeliever, you’re not going to understand much. You can understand the gospel and become saved, but not until you become saved will the Bible really make any sense to you.

It’s very important to understand this difference. I’m Dr. Hank Lindstrom. This is Bibleline. And to be saved, you need to simply trust Jesus as your Savior. I hope you’ve done that. And I pray that you would do that today. Don’t put it off in another minute. We’re going to go to our phone lines. People are already calling in the numbers 1-800-576-3771. And we’re going to go first to Liz, and she is in Tampa, Florida. And Liz, welcome to my blind eye on the air.

Hi. In John Sistine, there is the parable divine where it talks about the different branches and how the branches are pruned and how some branches are thrown away and cast into the fire. Who are those branches that are cast away into the fire? The believer who does not produce any fruit, their testimony is worthless. You’ll notice there it says, men cast them into the fire and they’re burned up. I believe it’s the The fact that their testimony is ineffective and because they’re producing no fruit, they’re not living for Christ, that their works will be like branches burn up in the fire.

They will produce no reward in heaven. I think it’s an allusion to the judgment state of Christ. You read about it in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 where it says our works will be tried by fire. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss. That’s loss of reward. But he himself shall be saved. If any man’s work abodged, which you have built upon, he shall receive a reward. So you’ll be rewarded for faithful service, but you will be…

He’s not talking about how to be saved or how to lose salvation, which is impossible. He’s talking about fruit bearing and how you can lose out on God’s blessing and rewards if you are not producing fruit in your life for Christ. But that’s not a Christian going out. No, absolutely not. And the way you really know that for sure is again, John 637. Exactly. It says he’s not a Christian. for sure is again john six thirty seven exactly it says he would know why is or under no circumstances ever cast out a believer so once you become a believer he’ll never cast you out and you’ll notice it’s not christ casting anybody out it’s been it says men down and cast them in the fire and their their birth i think it’s talking about that uh…

they are just like a divine if you have a vineyard branches that are producing absolute no fruit you prove the vine you take those branches away and it’s talking about how that men will see you as worthless uh… as far as the testimony for christ and i’ll just uh… disregard or burn up whatever you said it will not have an impact okay thank you very much and you’re very welcome thank you lister calling in certainly it’s not talking about salvation the passage of salvation are quite clear we’re not going to go to tim and lake worth florida and Tim, welcome to Bimond, you’re on the air.

Good morning, Dr. Hank. I thought you really threw a monkey wrench into things for me. I thought I knew everything had it all down pat until you said that the Old Testament saints were saved by faith and I thought they were saved by words. My question is if the Old Testament people were saved by faith, then why Jesus? Well, Jesus is the one that they had to place their faith in. Let me give you a couple of verses. Galatians 3, 8 says the scripture, referring to the Old Testament scriptures, foreseen that God would justify the nations through faith before the gospel of Abraham.

Verse 16, Galatians 3 says Abraham believed in Christ. and you’ll find in verse 6 of the relation to the story it says Abraham believed God that is concerning the gospel that he heard and it was counted to him for righteousness. So Abraham was saved without works by faith alone and of course the whole book in the relation builds its argument on faith without works based upon Abraham’s experience. And then you read what Peter says in Acts 10, 43 and he sweeps the whole Old Testament in one verse and he says to Jesus or in the Hebrew, Yeshua, you have all of the prophets with us.

That’s all the Old Testament writers that through his name, the name of Yeshua or in English Jesus, whosoever believe is in him should receive the remission of their sins. So that’s how people were always saved by faith alone in Christ alone. Okay, but then what is the new covenant? If the Old Covenant was faith in Jesus. So the new covenant is contrasted with the covenant of the law, but nobody was ever saved by the old covenant. That’s the flaw there in your reasoning there.

They were saved by promise. God made a promise to Abraham that he would save all those that would believe on this promise seed that would come of Abraham’s lineage. And the first covenant was given to point out man’s need of a savior, but the second covenant tells how for sure forever that that second covenant was promised but not established until Christ died and shed his blood. When Christ, the Lord’s Supper, he says this cup represents the blood of the New Covenant.

And it was ratified and put into a permanent effect at the moment Christ died and shed his blood at the cross to pay for our sins. But up until then, they were saved based upon God’s promise that he would do that. But once they trusted in him now that he’s come, they were fully saved. You know, in the Old Testament saints, they couldn’t go to heaven. They had to go to paradise and wait until sin had been paid for it.

So they had what I call a layaway salvation. And once Christ died, He went down into paradise in the heart of the earth as it says in Matthew 1240 and Luke 23, 43. And then He led all those people out of paradise and now paradise is in heaven itself. Ephesians 4, 8 through 10 says He descended into the lower parts of the earth and led captive. These Old Testament Saints to Heaven. Now their sins were fully paid for. He proclaimed liberty while he was with him.

And on the third day he opened up a prayer that I submitted to Heaven. Okay, so no one in the Old Testament was saved by work. Absolutely not. Okay, all these years I had it wrong. Yeah, and many people do. And it’s because we’re just not taught well in our our Bibles anymore and we just get a little verse here and there and most sermons are really very shallow as far as any teaching of the Word of God. Well, that’s where I’ve listened to you for four years.

I see. OK. Well, I appreciate your time. I’m so glad to be here. Thank you, Tim. It’s Tim and Lake Worth, Florida. And we are now going to go to Leroy in Asheville, Pennsylvania. And Leroy, welcome to Bibleline. We’re glad to have you on the air with us. OK. OK, you’re on the air. OK. I would like to know if you have the book to Babylon. Yes we do. We have it in stock and that’s a marvelous book. It traces the history of the religious system that began in ancient Babel and that was prior to the Tower of Babel and that religious system has continued down through time as the worship of a mother and her son and today that worship system as we see it is the worship of Mary in Jesus and Mary is made to be equal to or superior to Jesus in that philosophy and

it’s totally wrong. Okay, is there any way I could order that? You sure can. Call back. Can you wait till the show is over? Yes. All right. Then call back in our office staff. We’ll take your order and send it right out to you. Okay. Just call the same number. Yes, ma’am. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much for calling. And now we’re going to go to Jonathan in Tampa, Florida. Jonathan, welcome to Bibleline. I know I’m on the air.

Good morning, Hank. Good morning. How are you doing today? Good. How about you? Good. I just had a compared to like the ancient like God, like Addis and Krishna and Dionysia like identical. Well, Jesus, obviously it’s not identical. Jesus is actually the God of the universe, the God of creation. If you read the Bible carefully, the one who existed prior to the creation of the universe was Jesus, who himself is the Creator. And according to the Bible, everything that is created and everything that exists is not only created by Jesus Christ, but consists or is held together and continues because of his power that he is the Almighty God himself in human flesh.

Let me quote a neat verse to you from Philippians where it says here in, well I think I’ll go to, let’s see, it’s Colossians of where I want to go. It says in verse 16 of Colossians chapter 1, for by Jesus Christ were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible whether they be thrown or dominions or principalities or powers and all things were created by him and for him and he was before all things so he existed prior to the creation and by him all things continue or consist or held together and continue because of his power.

Yeah, I know but like 1000 BC. We see. In his attributes were born on a virgin on the semi-25th, down in the east, adorned by three kings. Right, well that is Satan’s account of it. That’s what we did today. That’s what we just talked about with this lady about the two Babylon’s book, it’ll show you those kind of counterfeit Satan knew from Genesis 3.15 that there was going to be this woman that would have a child that would be the Messiah and that he would ultimately defeat Satan.

And so Satan has come up with a clever counterfeit and that system is still around with us today. And bail, for example, is that same child that you’re talking about. They’re born on December 25th. That’s the birthday of bail. And his mother, Astroth, the short form is Astrar, or the English form is Easter. Easter is the mother of bail. Well, we have to say goodbye to Miami, but Miami, thank you for tuning in today. We’ll catch you again tomorrow.

I hope you’ll join us. But back to you, Jonathan, that’s what that’s all about. It’s kind of like hard to like grass that because like the sun given the name Well, absolutely and and the religious system was the worship of a mother and son And it spreads out the whole world that began with Samir as simmeramas the mother of Camus and then as it spread to the world and he was icey’s and horse in Venus and Cupid in Italy Aphrodite and Uros and Greece and and Astoroth and Baal in Israel.

And so this is the counterfeit of Christianity. When Constantine declared the world to be Christian, in the fourth century, the mother became Mary and Jesus became the baby and the system is still the same in many circles. We have to come to our break time and thank you for calling Jonathan and we have many callers still with you online. You don’t have to wait until after the break but we’re going to take a short break. We’ll come back and do a second half hour.

Again, let me remind you that this Wednesday we have to make a decision by this Wednesday. If you’d like to go, it’s not too late but you have to please call me and let me just work you through that and let you know because I’d love to have you on board with me. If you’d like to help Bibleline, we do depend upon our listeners for financial support, and you can help us greatly at this time. If you would give a gift, you can do it by credit card over the phone, or you can call and get an envelope sent to you with our address and mail a gift by the pray for us.

And if you could give a gift to Bibleline, that would be greatly appreciated. We’re going to take a short break and we’ll come back and do a second half hour Bibleline. So don’t move. Don’t turn your radio off or don’t change the down. going to be right back after this short break. 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. We are having fun here at Bible and Headquarters. This is by the line.

I’m Dr. Anker Live and we’d love to have you come visit us sometime. I hope you can we do have people come by from Different states that are in Tampa on pleasure or business and we invite you to come by a knock on our door We’re right next to the Tampa airport, so we’re easy to find but if you certainly live in the area We’d love to have you just come by and worship with us sometime or Visit during the week and visit our resource center.

We’d love to get to shake your hand and say hi to you Again, we want you to know that we do really enjoy meeting our listeners, and we got to meet quite a few yesterday who came on our third Sunday dinner here at the church I pastor here at Calvary Community Church where Bible Iin is headquartered. Thank you for tuning in. By the way, check out our worship service from yesterday. It’s in archive along with a year’s worth of sermons.

All you have to do is go to the website, click on the camera and you’ll be connected to the archives of a year’s worth of sermons. Also, if you do it at 11 o’clock Sunday morning, click on that camera, you’ll be connected to the live service. Yesterday we had people in Europe and Canada and in Australia are you believing that? Isn’t that exciting? What God is doing and we’ve had correspondence now from in this the past couple of weeks from Indonesia, from Singapore, from Dubai, and the United Arab Emirates, and a long nice letter from the pastor in East Africa, and all of that’s just been in the past two weeks.

And we’re excited about how BIMLINE is reaching out to the world. Could you help us? Would you pray for us? And could you consider giving the Bible? And you can do it by credit card over the phone. You can do it by giving online, on our online bookstore, on the website. BibleLineMinistries.org. You can also give by calling and getting us to send you an envelope with our address printed on it and you can mail that gift to Bibleline. Also, if you’ll get some of your resources from our Resource Center, that provides a little bit of profit for Bibleline, which helps us to pay the bills to stay on the air.

You can help us with your prayers and with your gifts, and I hope you will consider doing that. We are offering a new class down. First Peter, that will be available on CD and DVD. You can call for the details using our 800 number. Also, we’re getting close to the departure for the Israel trip. You may be called immediately because Wednesday will be the last day that the seats will still be reserved for my group. And after Wednesday the airline will sell them to whoever Once the by the minute might mean that there will not be a seat for you, there still might be, you can always try, but we can’t guarantee it.

We’re going to go back to the second half hour Bible ends and stay tuned. 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 the second half hour of Bibleline. Thank you for tuning in today. We are excited about being able to be with you and I want to welcome all of you that are listening wherever that might be on the planet Earth.

We have many stations. We’re on in Lansing, Michigan, Flint, and Saginaw, Michigan. We’re on in North Adams, Massachusetts. We’re on in Albany and Utica, New York. We’re on in Pennsylvania, in Scranton. Also in Pittsburgh. We’re on in Virginia. We’re on in Tennessee, everywhere from Memphis to Nashville to Chattanooga, and so on and so on. And down in Miami, and in Jacksonville, and in Atlanta, Florida. And of course, all over the town. of course all over the Tampa Bay area.

By the way, we have started a new class that’s on Tuesday nights. And if you’re in driving distance, come and sit in tomorrow night from 7.15 to 9.15, 2 hours. We’ve got 4 weeks to go, including tomorrow night, and that will be a total of 5 weeks, 10 hours of teaching. You can order the CDs or the DVDs of the class and be as though you were there if you’re not not in driving distance, but if you want to come and actually sit in the class, you’ll find it’s a blessing to be able to do that.

We’d like to have you be here and sit in the class where it’s such a rich book. We’ll be covering multiple doctrines and wonderful truths that Peter, the apostle, penned in his first epistle, first Peter. So that’s tomorrow night and we invite you to come and be a part of that. So we are reminding you that if you are thinking about Israel, you need to start thinking in high gear because Wednesday is the last day. You can guarantee the trip for yourself by placing your money down.

And then we will be leaving on February 25th. But the airlines will not hold the seats any longer after Wednesday. So by Wednesday you have to make a decision. Now I can help you through the process and everything can get done. You have plenty of time to do it. The deadline is the seats will no longer be reserved for my group after Wednesday. So if you want to get in, you don’t want to go over a robo or a hot air balloon.

We want you to be on the same flight with me. And we’re going to have a great time. 12 full days in Israel, we’ll see it all. And you’ll have a most incredible adventure for your life. Choose to do it. I’ll tell you. It was a revolutionary thing for me when I first went. I’ve been 14 times. This will be trip number 15. You’ll not regret it. It will be one of the most significant events in your life. To walk where Jesus walked, to see the land, to have so many misconceptions cleared up as you’ll come home with a great confidence in knowing the word.

You’re going to learn the equivalent, I believe, of one year’s, where the Bible college on this trip. It’s a jam-packed morning-to-even Bible study on-site. Boy, you can’t get any better than that. Thank you for tuning in today. And I tell your friends about this program, and let them know wherever they are on the planet Earth, they can catch it on the internet. And then our worship services as well. And yesterday we had people in Australia tuning in, which is exciting.

It’s really, truly the worldwide web. We’re going to go back to Jonathan that we were talking to a moment ago. He has another comment to make I guess. Jonathan, we’re back to you. I’m still like why is this the pagan? Well, it’s the other way around. The pagans are counterfeit of Jesus. A Satan knows exactly who Jesus is and he is trying to confuse people by throwing out counterfeits. And that’s what all religion is all about. are Satan inspired and they are man-made and they all have a form of proof to some degree, but they are counterfeits of the real thing.

And so if you want to know the real thing, you have to read about Jesus and these are all counterfeits. They all are in fear. I think even the cartoons have counterfeits of Christ. Superman and all the other superheroes you read about in the comics and the cartoons are all take offs on jesus who is the super super superman of the universe he is god who took on flesh and obviously all these other things you see are counterfeit i think the wizard of ours is a counterfeit of the the emerald city is a counterfeit of the new jurislam and the emerald city is green but the new jurislam will sparkle like a diamond and it’s white and beautiful in appearance and will sparkle and light the universe.

And you don’t get there by the Elabric Road, but you get to that heavenly city by trusting Jesus as your Savior. So Satan has his account of his out there everywhere, and I think you’re starting to finally discover that. Let me tell you, the Gospel was preached back in Genesis chapter 3. Go back and read the Bible, proceeds all those. The talk about Christ and the Old Testament is everywhere. These are Satan’s benefits of the true Savior who would come and be thinking on flesh in Bethlehem.

We sure thank you for the call. I’ve got to go on to our next caller. We have a caller in Lansing, Michigan and Sean. We welcome you to the Bibleline program. And I bet it’s told up there. I was watching part of that football game yesterday in Lambo Field. I’m glad I was watching it on television. How are you doing? Good, yeah. My quick question is a two-part question. First is about tribulation times. Then the second question is about the meek inheriting the earth.

that just subject to every human being on earth or is the beat attitude should be brought into that? Well, I think the meek are those who recognize their inability to save themselves in place or trust in Christ. And ultimately, we will enjoy the New Jerusalem and the new heavens and the new earth for all eternity. And so we will inherit it. we will have this earth as our possession to enjoy and I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be a great day in the future for all believers and I think it’s inclusive of all those who know Jesus as our Savior.

Oh Tribulation sounds, are we in Tribulation sounds right now? Well we’re in Tribulation but not the Tribulation. The seven-year Tribulation of Bible talks about hasn’t happened yet. It will not commence until the Rapture happens. If you read 1st of thessalonians chapter 4 or 13th, it talks about the Rapture. Chapter 5 begins and lets us know that when the Rapture happens, that a time of destruction and wrath will come upon the earth and that happens after we leave. Okay. If I have any other questions, I’ll give you a call.

Hey, that’s great. Thank you, Sean, up in Lansing, Michigan where it’s a little cool. I talked to my sister this morning in Ohio and she said it was 15 So that’s a little bit too cold for me, too. All right. We’re gonna go now to Scott in Richmond, Virginia and Scott Welcome to Bibleline you’re on the air Yes, good morning. Yes, thank you for taking my call, Dr. Hank. I just had a, well, quickly, I miss your program when you switch from 1540 to 820.

I can’t get your work anymore, so that’s kind of tough for me. But my two-part, two things I want to ask you. One is I know that with salvation you just you have to trust and trust that our crisis is savior I had a discussion with a co-worker of mine about water baptism. And he tried to give me quite a few examples about how every time someone was saved they had to be baptized in water. And I just, can you clarify that for me?

Well obviously it doesn’t save us, but as a believer I baptize a bunch of people in last year and I’m looking forward to baptizing a lot of people this year. Every believer ought to be baptized by a merchant, but it’s a testimony of how we’re cleansed of our sin by the blood of Christ. But if you would never want to baptize, but trust in Jesus, you would still be saved because your cleanse by the blood of Christ and not by water.

Think about the dying thief. What a classic example. Wouldn’t that have been terrible if Jesus looked over to the dying thief and said, look, I’m so sorry, but it doesn’t look like we’re going to get the water baptized you. So you’re going to wind up in hell and my deepest regrets to you. Sorry. No, he told the dying thief today, now so be with me in paradise. And so he was not saved by water baptism. That’s God’s illustration of salvation.

The one thing that rejected Christ, an example in a picture of everybody who had ever rejected Christ, the law be lost eternally, and the one that believed was saved and not by works, he couldn’t do a thing, he was dying, he simply trusted Christ, he couldn’t get water baptized, but yet he was saved. And also, and I did, and that’s how I saw it also. And the other thing was moving I believe you cannot. Of course he was saying that you could.

And if you don’t mind, give me a few words to clarify that. I appreciate the doctor. You know, bad doctor and breeds bad doctor and if they don’t have salvation right, they obviously don’t have anything about salvation right. I have, by the way, a CD. The Bibleline is the Bibleline radio with Dr. Hank Lindstrom. The Bible is the Bible. They don’t rightly divide the Bible and they see the word baptize and their minds lock up and all they think is water, water, water, water, water, water, water.

But there’s the spirit baptism. That’s not a liquid. There’s the baptism of fire. That’s not a liquid. There’s the baptism of Moses. And there’s so many. I cover all of them and why we’re I were not saved by water baptism. It’s merely a testimony of what Christ has done. But once you’re saved, you’re saved forever. John 637, Jesus promises him to come unto me, I will in no wise cast out. There’s nothing that could ever, there’s no exception clause.

There’s nothing that could ever cause you to be cast out. And better than that, in verse 39 of John 6, where Christ said he would not lose one, not one person who comes to Christ would ever be lost. If one person, think about this. If one person in all history were ever lost after they got saved, Christ would be a liar because he promised that he would not lose one. And quickly, is that all facing again after you were trying to work yourself?

Well, right. In your save forever, in other words, he paid for all of your sins, past, present, and to cross. Remember when Christ died 2000 years ago, all of your sins were future. He looked into the future and saw when you would be born, saw when you would die. Every sin you would ever commit in your lifetime and he paid for all of them. He offers you eternal life at the moment you believe, not after you die. It is eternal life and if you have eternal life today, it will be eternal life tomorrow.

It will be eternal life next week. It will be eternal life next year, 100 years from now, a billion years from now. It is eternal life he gives you and he gives it to you because he’s already paid it in full, paid for it in full by his death. He paid for all of his sins past, present and future. It’s subtle. And then Jesus says in Hebrews 13, 5, I will never leave you. Right. Incredible statement. Think about it.

If you didn’t mind, it would have been hell, Christ would have to go to hell with you. It’s not going to happen. If he’s never going to leave you, that should tell you something. If you went to hell, He’s not going to go to hell with you, but he’s not going to go to hell never will Jesus go to hell and so you’re not going to go to hell I’ll never leave you. He said he was thirteen five He Bruce said okay thirteen five oh thirteen five.

Yeah Thank you, dr. Hank. I do appreciate that and I’ve been wanting to call you for so long and um and like I said I did miss and I can’t get it 20 very less. You’re sure welcome. Thank you Scott in Lansing, Michigan We’re now going to go to Jim in Dunedin, Florida and Jim welcome to Bibleline you’re on the air Yes, this is Jim from Dunedin. I have a question. I’d like to ask you. Go ahead. Okay, in Luke 12, 41 through 46, I know I believe what you just said with the other the other caller that once you’re saved you’re always saved and I believe that more than ever passes out.

But Luke verse 46 is kind of a difficult verse. So what is your interpretation of that of Luke 12 46? I am almost there. It says here. Luke 1246 the Lord of that servant will come In a day when he look if not for him and at an hour when he is not aware and will cut him a sunder and will point him his portion with the unbelievers. And of course, you have to recognize that we covered it the other day with the parable that tells the Matthew 25 the fact that somebody’s called a servant doesn’t mean they’re necessarily saved.

And so when we talk about Christ’s return and the kingdom that he will establish, Christ is King over everyone whether they’re saved or lost. And so here’s talking about Probably the tribulation period that is included in the definition of the day of the Lord or the kingdom that’s going to be established. And this fellow is obviously one of those who are under the King’s authority, but he’s not a believer. And therefore he is cast away and is appointed as portion of the unbelievers.

Obviously, if you interpret a difficult verse like this one in the light of a clear one, John 637, he said he would in no wise or under no circumstances ever cast a believer out. So once you’re a believer, you’re stuck. You have to go to heaven when you like it or not. It’s obvious this fella, even though he’s called a servant, he’s not saved. . . . . . . . . . The word servant doesn’t make him say the word that everybody in the country, everybody here is subject to our government and our president.

But in a situation where you have a king, obviously you are his servant. Whatever he asks you to do, you are required to do it, period, whether you’re saved or lost. Okay, so you have two people there. You have servants and unbelievers. So you’re immediately saying, Well, servants can be some servants that are saved and then the servants that are lost. So it’s here obviously this guy’s lost. This is a person that was born during the Tribulation period or just prior to the…

Or maybe in the Tribulation period is an unsafe person and never does accept the Lord as a Savior. Very good. Thank you, Jim. That was Jim in Dunedin, Florida, and we’re going to go now to Brad in Bradington, Florida. Brad, welcome to Bibleline you on the Earth. Yeah, Brad. That’s good. Good. Good. I had a question for you about deacons and this probably opened up a can of worms, but the question is now hang up. And how does that can be nominated or serving if they’ve had on this?

Well, you’re absolutely right. That does cause a problem because we have so many divorces. I think in Florida, it’s more than 50% of those who get married for the first time will wind up in divorce. It’s sad that our society has come to that and that’s unfortunate. But I do believe that it means exactly that. It’s here to be the husband of one wife and not be divorced. And so we attempted our church to screen out people all over the very beginning before they ever approached to see that they have never been divorced as to be a church leader and I think that’s really what is saying there.

That doesn’t mean that divorced people can’t be used but they can be used in a mighty way and there’s lots of different roles and lots of different positions where they can serve but I think that office those passages in 1st Timothy 3 and Titus chapter 1 mean exactly that. Some people don’t try to interpret that as one wife at a time, but I don’t really think that was the intent of the verse there. And I hope that answered your question.

It probably is not the popular answer today as we have a society today that has so many divorces and it’s happening more and more it seems as we approach the Lord’s return. Homes are being broken up every day. You’re going to go to Joe in Pembroke Pines. He has an offer question. Joe says, I believe we are in the last days. What about, and I think I answered this question the other day, but I’ll run through it one more time real quickly.

What about the times of the Cold War and Russia in the early 80s? People thought this was the end time. Well, we’ve been in the end times ever since 1948. The Bible tells us in Hosea chapter 3 verse 5 that when the Jewish people would return back to their land and become a nation again, that that would be the last day. So we’re living in the last days. That was the last days, we’re still in the last days and it will continue until Jesus returns and I think we’re getting closer by the day.

So that’s the answer to that question, Jo, and thank you for calling in. So we answered that twice for you. Somehow we left that one up on the board. We’re now going to David in Richmond, Virginia, and David, welcome to Bibleline, and you’re on the air. Yes, good morning, Dr. Hank. Good morning. I needed to bring something to your attention. Maybe you did not know or did stay in the ministry. Well, I know the rules get broken, but I was asked what the Bible taught, and I believe that that was wrong.

OK. I just wanted to know, you know, I wasn’t sure if you were aware of that or not. Yeah, I know. But certainly he gave a great contribution. I think people can, even though divorce be greatly used, but I don’t believe there to be a pastor or elder or deacon. Thank you, David, and thank you for bringing that input. You’re absolutely right. you know that I like Dr. Scoville’s Bible. He was the editor. He had about 10 contributors. Some of those guys are phenomenal and they just did such a great job of making things clear and simple.

So check that out. The Scofield Bible is a great reference. We have it and all different types of in all different types of forms. forms, large print, small print, soft cover, hard cover, leather cover and so on. warm. We have Mary now and Mary Ann is calling in and she is in Orange City in Florida here and so we’re going to Mary Ann, let’s see here, hold on. And Mary Ann, welcome to Bibleline You’re On The Air. Hello. Hi Mary Ann.

Hi. My question is, what does the word generation mean in scripture? Like a Matthew, it says until this generation passes away. What does it mean by this generation? Matthew 24? Yeah, there’s different views, but I believe it’s talking about the period of time that it takes for one generation to pass away. If you go to Matthew 23, I think you see an illustration of that and how it’s used in Jesus pronounces a judgment upon the Jewish nation of His day for having rejected Him.

In Matthew 23 verse 36 he says, I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation. What things? Well, he said a judgment would. He says that I am going to hold you guys accountable that upon you may come all the righteous all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous able. That takes perspective to Adam’s son, until the blood of Zacharias, the son of Bacarias, whom you slew between the temple of the altar at the end of the Old Testament prophets’ time.

And he said it’s all going to come upon this generation. Well, you know, guess what? Within 40 years of Christ’s death at Calvary, the Romans came and slaughtered almost 5 million Jewish people and kicked the Jewish people off the land and they’ve been scattered since for 2000 years and are now returning after that 2000 year dispersion back to the land. So they suffered a severe judgment because of rejecting Christ. I hope that helped. Okay, thank you. So I believe it’s somewhere between 40 and 70 years.

I don’t know how long a generation is. But obviously in that case, 40 years after Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected in the Senate back to heaven, the Romans came in 80, 70, and brought a horrific judgment against Israel. They lost their temple, they lost their city, they lost their land, and they were scattered worldwide from that point on. Well, we’re coming up on the end of the program here. We’re so glad that you tuned in today. I hope you’re enjoying ByBlind wherever you might be listening, wherever that is on the planet Earth.

By internet now, we know it can be anywhere. We have had 152 countries log in. Let me encourage you to check out our radio programs by clicking on the spinning globe on our homepage. Our TV programs are clicking on the TV set. Our television, I’d rather our worship services by clicking on the camera. And by the way, we’re getting ready to go to Israel. Wednesday will be, it looks like the final day you could actually guarantee your seat on the trip with me.

And the airlines will no longer hold them after Wednesday. So call me right away and we can do that on a credit card and assure your seat and you’ll be on board with me for this wonderful trip leading February 25th and coming back March 7th. Call me and I’ll explain the details. and we can help you through the system. It’s not too late, but it will be after Wednesday, I believe, although you can try right up until the last day we take off.

Maybe we can somehow stow you away underneath in the baggage compartment. But love to have you go. I hope you will. Awesome. If you live in the Tampa Bay area, we have that class tomorrow night at 7.15. That’s 1st Peter. We’d love to have you come and join that. You can call in order the CBs of this series or DVDs. We hope that you’ll maybe take advantage of that as a way of getting in on this wonderful class. Take a look at our Resource Center online or call that for a resource sheet to be sent to you of other of any things that we have here in our Resource Center.

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Got to run. Keep looking up. Jesus is coming. Join me again tomorrow. In the meantime, keep looking up because Christ we believe is coming 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. Bibleline’s 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.

Well, we have a lot of fun being with you today and this is just the beginning of the week. It’s Monday and we’ll be back of course tomorrow and then Wednesday and then Thursday and Friday and so on. And if you go to the internet you can really catch these programs almost for a year in the past in our archives. And so check that out. You can download them. I have one fellow that comes to my church and he has one of these deals he holds in his hand and he has got 261 Bibleline programs all downloaded in there in his iPod.

That’s amazing in it. He’s holding 261 hours of Bibleline and he carries it with him and plays these programs wherever he is. That’s exciting what a loyal listener he is. And you can do this similar thing because the technology is here today to make that possible. We are certainly trying to urge you if you’re least thinking about Israel. You’ll have a wonderful time. We’re gonna have a great time and I’ve been so many times and this will be trip number 15 I’m looking for good.

There’s something special about going to the land where all these things took place the land of the prophets the land of the Apostles the land of Jesus and I want you to go with me will experience some wonderful things and and your life will not be the same again, I’m sure, as I’ve seen it happen so many times. Call us, we’ve got to get you going because Wednesday the 23rd of January will be the last day that they’ll reserve these seats for me, for my trip.

So, if we don’t get some money to make your commitment to go, the airline will let these tickets go, And then there may be, maybe there’s always possibility, but maybe there’s no all sellout and you won’t be able to be on the plane with us and that’s a big problem, a big problem. So give me a call, we’d love to have you go. I walk you through it all, it’s not too late, we can do it. And I want you to go.

You’ve got to run now, but we’ll be back tomorrow. I hope you’ll join me here on Bibleline. And give us a call. We’d love to hear from you during the day. If you’re enjoying Bibleline, let us know. Gotta run, keep looking up, Jesus is coming, we’ll be back tomorrow. Join me then. 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. Bibleline’s 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. A camp of Florida.