Bibleline Radio Show – 2009-05-18

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Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom, a ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, declaring God’s love through radio and the Internet, providing real answers to an ever-searching world. To reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep Bibleline on the air in your community, dial toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3776. 71. Thanks for joining us here today. This is Tom Perry for Bibleline Ministries. You are just in time to hear the beginning of Dr. Hank Lindstrom’s teaching series on the book of Revelation.

We pray that Bibleline will be glorifying to God as well as edifying to you. Through Bibleline’s combination of teachings from the Word of God and real life questions with answers taken straight from the Bible, we are continuing Dr. Lindstrom’s ministry of spreading the good news of salvation throughout the world, salvation to simply trusting Jesus Christ alone as Savior. If you have not yet trusted Jesus, we encourage you to do so. Please visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org for information that can change your eternity.

We pray that you will come to trust Jesus as your Savior and be saved to the glory of God. Please plan to open your Bible and join us for a verse-by-verse study of the book of Revelation. You might be familiar with the three major divisions of the book of Revelation. Things past, things present, and things future. During this series, these topics and more will be explored. Please tell your friends and family about Bibleline. If Bibleline isn’t being broadcast in their area, then please ask them to visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org.

You can call our resource center at 1-800-576-3771. If you missed any of the teachings in this series, now please open your Bible to the Book of Revelation chapter 1 and join us as we begin Dr. Lynch from his teaching series. We welcome you to the Course on Revelation. Revelation the last book of your Bible, I shouldn’t have to give the page number to find this one unless your Bible is upside down, it should be the last book of your Bible.

We’re going to look at the top of the page and we notice here the title. It says, The Revelation of St. John the Divine and that title is wrong on two counts. It’s a lesson to us that only the Scriptures are inspired and when man-metals, he messes it up and here they even mess up the title. If you’ll note verse one of the book, we have the true title, The Revelation of Poop, Jesus So this book should be properly titled, The Revelation of Jesus Christ.

It was not written to reveal John the apostle. So the title of the book at the top of your page is wrong. Isn’t that an interesting lesson that you have to be on your toes? And also it’s wrong on a second count because it says it’s the revelation of St. John the divine. John was not divine. Christ was divine, and so here they call Him divinity, deity, and John was not divine. So the title at the top of your page, if you want to just leave it alone, but remember that or go ahead and mark down wrong on two counts.

John the Apostle is the human writer of this book. We believe God is the author, and John is responsible for giving us five New Testament books. But are they the Gospel of John? Then the three epistles of John, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John. That’s 4 total. And then the book of Revelation gives us a total of 5 books. So John obviously was used of God to give us 5 of the 27 New Testament books. So John here is the one that God uses to complete the Bible, to put the final capstone on the Bible, the final book, and that’s the book we’re going to be studying.

So let’s go ahead and take a look beginning in verse 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him to show unto His servants. And His servants are us. And that is those who are disciples of Christ. The word servant is the Greek word do-loss. means a bond slave or a slave. And once you make the second decision after salvation to serve the Lord and be a slave of His, then these are the ones that really are blessed as they read this book because this book…

He is one that really is a blessing to those that are serving God. And so this is a letter in particular to those that are His servants. We’re saved by trusting Christ and by faith alone and Christ alone. But after we are saved we ought to become slaves of Christ or servants of Christ. And this letter is written to show these things unto His servants, things which must shortly come to pass. And what does that mean? Well, there is no gap between when John writes and things that the book of Revelation talks about are happening.

Not like the book of Daniel, when Daniel was told in the last chapter of Daniel that the book was sealed up until the time of the end. So Daniel was written and then sealed and not understood for many, many years later. And God said that in the book of Daniel, the book of Revelation picks up immediately. And we’re going to find that it picks up beginning with things that are happening in the time of John himself and then carries right to the end of this age and then on in through the tribulation period, the millennium and into eternity.

So obviously there was no break. This book is up and running from the very beginning. Then it says here, and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, John being the apostle John, the human writer of this book. John, it says in verse 2, bear record of the Word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and all things that he saw. And you might want to mark that phrase, we’re going to see it numerous times again.

And that is John was not writing down what he heard, but John was writing down what he saw. And we believe John was caught into the future and and was an eyewitness of the events that we’ll be studying. And so I believe in time travel, and that God caught him into the future. And he actually witnessed and observed these things. And not only he, but other prophets were caught into the future, and some were caught back into the past.

Jeremiah was caught back into the past, as well as the future. Ezekiel was caught back into the past, as well as into the future. And it can only be possible if God operates in more than the four dimensions that we’re familiar with. And apparently he does. We have some more ordered, but there’s a book called The Creator and the Cosmos, which is written by a physicist. And he talks about how that the God of the Bible must operate in perhaps at least nine dimensions.

Otherwise things that the Bible describes are impossible. Interesting. You know, in Jacob and the Old Testament fell asleep in used a rock as a pillow, a stone, under his head. He saw heaven opened. He saw a ladder between heaven and earth. And he saw angels going up and down, back and forth. And if you think about it, in the four dimensions that we know, scientists tell us that the horizon of the universe is 6 trillion light years away. So it would mean to travel to heaven and back, it would be 6 trillion years at the speed of light.

Nobody’s ever done that yet. 186,000 miles per second for 6 trillion years at that speed, you’d make it one way. And in 6 trillion years coming back. And yet he saw it happening like this. After he finished his dream, Jacob called this the gate of God. And it probably was a gate through another dimension so that we could circumvent the four dimensions that we are in to go directly to heaven. Science fiction talks about stargates and being able to all of a sudden go to another place.

And perhaps they’re catching up with the Bible. But what is interesting to me is that all the world religions and all their writings describe a God in terms of four dimensions. It tells me they have a false God, a God of their own imagination, a God that they have invented. Only the God of the Bible, only the Bible describes the God who is far greater than we, whose ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

A God who can do things that can only be explained by multiple dimensions. And so we have an incredible God and it doesn’t begin just in the book of Revelation, it It begins way back there in the book of Genesis, where we have God existing outside of time and space as He already existed from eternity past when at a point when He began the universe began time and space where it says in the beginning God created the heavens near.

of that time did not exist. Nor did space, but God created time and the three other dimensions of length, breadth, and height, which are the four dimensions which we experience every day. But God can take somebody and move them out of time. And obviously, He takes John into the future as we’ll see. And I truly believe that that’s what happened here. He was an eyewitness. So it says He bare record of the Word of God, of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things which he saw, he became an eyewitness.

Verse 3 says, Blessed, that means happy, is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein. So there is a blessing in, notice reading this book, hearing what it says in this book and keeping the things that the book tells us to do, there is a special blessing. And boy does Satan try to prevent people from reading his book. He tells them it’s too complicated. Why you can’t understand the book of Revelation don’t even bother.

So how many people do? They fall into Satan’s lie and they get cheated out of the blessing that God has for them by not ever even attempting. Satan shuts them down before they even open up the book. You hear people say that, oh, you can’t make any sense out of the book of Revelation. Why even bother to read it? In a lot of churches, it’s never preached on. It’s never taught. It’s never even opened. And the book of Revelation remains closed.

And what does God say right at the very beginning? Blessed. The word blessed means happy. Happy is He that reads it and they did hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are therein. So this is a book where we ought to put our nose, right? And take a look and listen here what it says because there’s a blessing for us. in this book. Thank you for joining us. You are listening to Bibleline with your host, Dr.

Hank Lindstrom. Bibleline is a teaching ministry that is dedicated to reaching out to people with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many resources available at Bibleline, such as Dr. Lindstrom’s DVD teachings on the topics of lost people seeking God. Are we in the latter days? And scientific facts. In addition to many others, please contact our Resource Center at 1-800-576-3771. Now please join us for a segment featuring Dr. Lynchner answering questions from college. We’re going to the phone lines to tap at the gym gym.

Welcome to Bibleline. Morning, Dr. thanks for taking my call. You’re welcome. I heard you. beginning of your show and heard you talking about salvation and how eternal it is. I just happen to be reading Ephesians chapter 2 and verses 5 and 6 kind of tells us that once we were saved he has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Amen. Positionally we’re already in heaven. Yeah. And so to be lost we’d have to be ripped out of heaven and thrown back down into the earth and cast into hell.

Not going to happen. Positionally, I’m already seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus according to the Bible. So basically weONDON as believers in Christ. So whatever happened to Christ happened to us judicially and positionally as God abused us, he sees us in Christ. So when Christ was crucified, we were crucified. When Christ was buried, we were buried. When Christ rose from the dead, we rose from the dead. When Christ ascended to heaven, we ascended to heaven. Christ was seated on the right hand of the Majesty on High.

We were seated with Christ on the right hand of the Father in Heaven and so on and so on. So our salvation has already been settled. All right. Thank you. All right. That was Jim and Tampa. We are now going to Donna in Fort Walton Beach and Donna. Welcome to Bibleline. Morning, Pastor Hange. Good morning. I’m calling in reference to a caller I heard on the show last week and his question was asking about if a marriage fell apart for whatever reason and the two partners either went on to remarry and then that union fell apart either through death or divorce.

That God in scripture says that the original union if they wanted to remarry was not allowed that was an abomination. I know that God is right in just in everything that he says in the Bible, but can you give me an opinion why he views that as such an abomination? Well, it’s like wife swapping. Here you’re jumping all around. He never intended for divorce in the first place, but then when you divorce remarried, then you go back to the first partner again.

It’s just, I think, the wrong picture for children and for family and for others and for society that you can just bounce around anybody and God says that’s not the way it is. He did allow for divorce, but he doesn’t allow for you just to bounce around wherever you want to go. Does that also apply if a couple would break up and then later on if they didn’t remarry? Then they could remarry. They could remarry. Of course. They can separate and then come back and if they actually had a formal divorce they could remarry as long as they haven’t married someone else.

Okay. So, if that married in between that really is… really throws a clinker. This Deuteronomy 24, the first four verses, they’re very clear that you can’t do that. It says in verse 4, if the latter husband die or whatever happens, her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife. After that, she is defiled by another marriage. For that is an abomination before the Lord. And it says, and here’s probably the answer you’re looking for.

And thou shalt not cause the land to sin. So basically, what these things do is it encourages others to do it. Look at how divorce seems to be multiplying all the time today. And it’s because so many people are doing it, and it’s becoming like a thing that’s no longer looked down upon. And so people find it easy, and they just bounce in and out of relationships. By the way, if you marry somebody that has been married twice before, the third marriage, the failure rate is 95%.

I mean it really goes right now. The first time marriages fail at a rate greater than 50%. Second time marriages fail at a rate of 75%. Third time marriages fail at a rate of 95%. So it gets worse and worse. That’s what God is saying here. I think in Deuteronomy that you don’t want to continue this thing. If you do get a divorce, then you do are allowed to get remarried because of uncleanness or sexual misconduct on the part of the guilty part of the innocent part of the remarry.

But God doesn’t want this thing just to be a continual lifetime experience where you just keep bouncing in and out of marriages. Okay, and that definitely clears that up for me, and I just have one other quick question. How do you minister to a person who’s lost a family member, and you don’t know for certain if that family member was a believer before death, and they indeed are or not in heaven, other than ministering to that person. And if you know that they are not saved, you know, of course, try to get them in that direction.

But what do you say? Well, you know, first of all, we don’t know the Lamb’s Book of Life. And somebody can have trusted the Lord as a child or during their life, and maybe nobody ever knew about it. They maybe never spoke about it or talked about it. And so we don’t write people off and just say that they’re automatically in hell. They may have trusted the Lord. So I like to give hope that they are. And then I just proceed to explain the wonderful assurance that a person can have about life after death.

And if you’re a believer, you could be absolutely assured of going to heaven. And so I just, I don’t ever say that somebody who’s died is in hell because I don’t know the Lamb’s League of Life. I don’t know that at some time in their life they did not trust the Lord of Savior. And so we have to kind of leave them alone and I believe at least I try not to allude much to them if I don’t know that they genuinely trusted the Lord.

But then I talk about the living person can be assured of eternal life and they can do it by trusting Christ as Savior. And that’s what I’m trying to do. The only thing that did bother me and was knowing that this person had joined the Catholic church when she got married and they did have a mass for her funeral but still that doesn’t necessarily mean that at some point that maybe she had not trusted Christ as Savior. So as I’m demonstrating to this family member, I am…

We have something wonderful here. Erwin Lutz, or the pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago, has written a couple of books. We have them in a package of three books that come together. One is called One Minute After You Die. And boy, does that title even attract people that are grieving a loved one who’s lost? And he has three books that all deal with eternity. And they deal with the moment of death and what happens after death. Usually a person He’s lost a loved one.

We’ll read one of these books1016 and they’re very clear and they are a great soul winning tool. So you mightnull consider you can buy them individually but if you get the three that he’s written which are all dealing with eternity. It’s a real savings and they’re really great. And we recommend them highly especially if you’re talking to somebody who has lost a loved one or whatever. They like tomun what’s going to happen. and you know, one minute after you dieigroup really does go into detail.

Okay, and you sell all three of these books? Yeah, they come together in a package of three. And are they lengthy? No. No, okay. So you might get them and then choose one to give to this lady. Right. And you’ll find it helpful in preparing you for the future and for talking to her. I’ve already sent her one of your Bibleline teachings, our salvation teaching, and I intend to follow up with her with other things. It sounds like this is something I need to really get for her.

I think it will be powerful. We’ve seen it help a lot of folks who are trying to comfort a grieving person andelcome of a loved one and Erwin Lutcher is a good Bible teacher and does a good job. And he teaches as clearly as you do. Are you putting me on the spot? Yeah, I admire him. He’s a wonderful Bible teacher, yes. Very easy, Reece. Okay. Okay, Pastor Hankel. I’ll call later and talk to you about those books in order one or maybe all three.

Thank you very much. Thank you. You’re appreciate talking to you. Okay, Donna in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Thank you for your call We have Albert in Miami, Florida Albert. Welcome to Bob line. You’re on the air Hey, I got a question for you It’s a reference to Elijah You know in the Old Testament The people who died they couldn’t go to have a right and we’re waiting for Jesus’s death right yes their sense and they were in the place in the center of the earth right that’s correct paradise now how did Elijah go to heaven because Elijah he was picked up by by chariot right and went to heaven or was a heaven that he went well you know you’re absolutely right and whether he was an exception to the rule somehow or whether he really just was taken to paradise, I can’t really tell you offhand, but we’ll have to wait and see perhaps.

But if Chariot took him off, and IHandler have to look at that word heaven there characte being, you know, he’s taken up to be with the Lord, but in the same way. But it could be that he was taken to paradise, but we’ll have to wait and see. But it could be an exception, just like the Rapture is going to be an exception, a large A large group of people will never experience death, who are alive when the rapture happens, and they’ll just be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and forever be with Him.

And those were types of the rapture. No doubt about it. Enoch and Elijah both, I think were pictures of what the rapture will be like. I see. Okay. So I don’t know that’s a good answer, but it’s the best I can do right now. We hope you enjoyed our video and don’t forget to subscribe. Uh. We hope that you’re learning with us as you listen to this question and answer segment featuring Dr. Hank Lindstrom. If you’d like to hear today’s program again, then please visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org.

There you’ll be able to replay today’s program in our audio. Thanks for watching! I’ll see you next week! including articles on a variety of topics written by Dr. Lynchstrom. In addition to many other resources in our online store, it’s time for us to take a short break now. When we return, we will continue this question and answer segment and then hear more Bible teaching from Dr. Hank Lynchstrom.

Don’t go away. Bibleline will be back in a moment. To pledge your support for Bibleline, give us a call at one eight hundred five seven six three seven seven one that’s one eight hundred five seven six thirty seven seventy one all right we’re going to get into the bible if you have your bible uh… get it open and uh… please uh… uh… study along with us and if you have your bible open their turn if you will to the book of uh…

A Matthew. We had somebody bring up a letter about the 10 virgins and they said that basically that not all would go up in the Rapture. Five would be left behind and obviously they don’t know much about the scripture because this is not talking about the Rapture. It’s talking about the Second Coming. You have to be able to rightly divide the Word and be able to separate between the Rapture and the Second Coming, they are totally two different events.

At the Rapture, Christ is not coming as a king, but he comes as the head of the church and will catch the believers up to himself to meet us in the air. And then God will begin the seven-year tribulation period, which will be a period of preparing Israel to receive her king. And when the bridegroom comes at the end of that seven-year period, that’s of course when the second coming will occur at the end of the tribulation period. So let’s go over to Matthew 25 and what is interesting here that you can get right to the point as you go to the end of this particular parable.

And we find that Jesus says to the five foolish virgins in verse 12, barely, I say unto you, I know you not. That means that we’re never saved. I know you not. The Bible is very clear in 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 19, or chapter 2 verse 19. He says, the Lord knows those that are his. The foundation of the Lord stands sure that he knows those that are his. So if you are saved, once you become born again, once you trust the Lord of Savior, the Lord knows those that are his.

You become his. He’s bought you. He’s paid for you. You’re saved, you’re saved forever. And so whenever he says, I know you not, that means you were never saved. And these five foolish virgins were never saved. It’s talking about the Second Coming. And we find here that the marriage and the celebration that follows is what’s being spoken about here. And that’s the Millennium. The marriage suffer of the Lamb is a thousand years celebration. Well, the whole earth will be at peace.

and the animals of the peace, the nations will learn more and no more. The whole earth will celebrate the marriage of Christ to his Lamb, to rather to his bride. As he comes back, Israel will receive Christ as their King and the kingdom will be gone. Here the five foolish virgins were never saved to begin with. They never did know the Lord is Savior. Obviously, therefore, they are not going to enter in. In Matthew 7 we have something similar where we have people that claim to be Christians and they preach in the name of Christ and they heal in the name of Christ and they do wonderful works in the name of Christ and Jesus says to them, I never knew you.

I never knew you. So obviously they were not saved and lost. He never knew them and you either are saved or you are lost and when you trust Christ You become saved and saved eternally from that moment on. Once you become saved, it is irreversible. Let me just quote some great verses that you need to write down someplace. John 637, Jesus says, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. That means for no reason or no instance will Christ ever cast out a believer, one who has come to him.

And better than that, in verse 39, where he says He would not lose one. Not one would ever be lost. Let me quote it. It says, this is the Father’s will which has sent me. And of all which have given me, I should lose none, not one. Not one would ever be lost. Think about this. If one person were ever lost in all of history that had come to Christ, Jesus would be a liar. He promised he would not lose one.

How do you get around that? Jesus would not lose one. You know, if it said he would lose one, all of my life had to worry, maybe I’m the one he’s going to lose. Oh, panic, panic! All my life had to panic and be living in fear that I might be the very one that he would lose. It’s so great to see that Christ said he would not lose one. Not one would be lost. Write those down. John 637, him that comes to me, I will know wise cast out.

He’ll never cast out anyone who has come to him and secondly he says he would not lose one. Anyway we are going to go back into the second half hour of Bible and so I hope you’ll keep your radio right where it is and here we go. We’re going to do Bibleline in the second half hour right now.

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

Hank Lindstrom. Okay, we have a call. Just call in and we’re gonna see who it is. Who’s this? Hi Hank. My name is Amy Jo. Okay, Amy. And I’m calling from Carvin Springs. Wonderful. I love your radio program by the way. Thank you. It’s just a blessing. We’ve got about a minute and a half and so you have to get right to the point. Okay. I was just curious what the Bible says about cremation. Okay. Good question. If it’s an okay thing to do or not.

The Bible really doesn’t say, but apparently throughout the Bible, everybody who was a believer was making a statement by bearing saying that they believed in the resurrection. And there was a time when cremation was a statement saying there was no after life. But people aren’t doing that today. I don’t think people, I think they recognize the financial cost or the big driving thing here. And it doesn’t matter, you know, if you were in a fire and your body was burned, it wouldn’t affect your resurrection.

It doesn’t affect your salvation at all. And as long as you’re not making a statement that you don’t believe in the resurrection, I think it’s something that would be okay. But some people want to follow the Bible tradition and say, I believe in the resurrection. I believe I’m going to receive a new body and the burial of the body certainly was a statement in that direction in the Bible. Okay, so these days, cremation is as long as your heart is in the right place.

I think so. I think sometimes it’s such a financial expense on the family. Sometimes they just can’t already afford it to go into debt to have a service and I think that’s probably not right either. So you have to make your own choice but I don’t think the Bible says either way. And as long as you have the, maybe you have somebody preach the gospel at your service, cremation doesn’t make a difference. I have a lot of cremations that I wound up doing.

Okay. Okay. That’s wonderful. No, thank you Hank. Thank you for calling. We have Ryan in Pinellas Park. Ryan, welcome to Bob Alain. Hi Hank, how you doing today? Good. Good morning. Good morning to you. I was just wondering, when I hear people talking about, well he’s a dispensationalist. I was wondering what exactly does that mean? I believe in dispensationalism and I believe there are at least seven dispensations taught in the Bible and these are specific ages or times during which God deals differently with man in regard to some revelation that he’s made.

Salvation has always been the same through every age but obviously there was a time when Noah was for example preparing the ark and that was a dispensation that ended with the flood and so on and of course there’s the dispensation of law that’s clearly mentioned in the Bible that began at Mount Sinai and really hasn’t ended. It was postponed at the cross and the last seven years of it, the tribulation period, that’s still future that will begin to tick off the clock once the rapture happens.

The last seven years of the dispensation of law will still take place. We’re living presently according to Ephesians chapter 3 in the dispensation of grace. And so right now we’re not under the law. We’re not under the commandments, we’re not under the observance of the Sabbath on Saturday, but we worship on the first day of the week, and we’re under the dispensation of grace. The Bible talks about an Ephesians 1 about the dispensation of the fullness of times. When Christ will rule on this earth as king and the earth will be at peace, and that’s a thousand year earthly reign, and obviously things will be quite different during that time with Christ ruling the earth from Jerusalem.

So there are seven of these in the Bible. I use the old Schofield reference Bible and in Schofield’s notes he outlines seven dispensations and I believe that’s really correct teaching and it helps to really understand. Obviously if you’re reading in the book of Genesis chapter 6 and you read about building an ark, we realize because that dispensation has passed that we’re no longer obligated to go out and build an ark so I’m not out there building one right now.

My neighbors aren’t looking at me constructing some huge boat in my front yard because that dispensation is over. Also we’re not offering blood sacrifices today because the dispensation of law has been put on hold and so I’m not obligated to go out and get a lamb and bring it and offer it in sacrifice and so on. So obviously you get confused if you don’t realize. That there are different distinct times when God held man accountable to some particular truth, and that had to do basically with Christian life experience.

So salvation has always been the same. Peter tells us that all the prophets taught that salvation was by faith in Christ alone. Hebrews 1043, he makes a great statement, and is all inclusive of all time that everybody who’s ever to be saved to save my Christ alone. Does that help a little bit? Yeah, it does. Thank you. Alright, you’re really welcome. That was Ryan and I would be considered a dispensationalist. I believe there are seven dispensations outlined in the Bible and oftentimes there are sometimes associated with a covenant that God has given.

There have been eight specific covenants in the Bible that are outlined. So we’re right now living in the dispensation of grace. Thank you for that call. We have a caller from St. Petersburg. His name is Frank and he’s left his question with us. He says, if you’re going to say anything on the air, could you state that it is your opinion, otherwise please prove it. Reference is the Trinity and the Rapture. Well, I believe that the Trinity is a well-established doctrine and it’s not my opinion.

Certainly, we see many verses that give us the fact that there is three members in the Godhead. Let me just quote from the end of Matthew where Jesus said, go you therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And clearly the Trinity is there even though the English word is not used in the Bible. And we find that there is one God but he is manifest and exists in three separate eternal persons.

By the way it’s interesting in this verse in Matthew 28 it says baptizing them in the name singular of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So we find that all three members of God had had the same name, that the Father is Jehovah, and Jesus is Jehovah, and the Holy Spirit is Jehovah, or you could use the more modern pronunciation Yahweh. Definitely we can prove it, Frank, and the other is to the reference of the Rapture.

And the word Rapture doesn’t occur, but yet the doctrine is certainly there in numerous passages. And in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 17, it says, we which are alive and remain, that is when the Lord returns, shall be caught up. And the word caught up is, of course, the definition of the word rapture. I’m glad the word rapture is not in the Bible. But certainly the Bible teaches that there will be a catching up of the believers in 1 Thessalonians 4 17.

And we’re going to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And so I’ll try Frank to be better to give a verse of scripture to prove what I’m saying each time it comes up. We have Jack in Richmond, Virginia, and Jack, welcome to Bibleline. Yeah, you, uh… I hear you well. Okay. I’m in a couple weeks ago, you mentioned that about Rick Warren is a corporate driven church. In regards to he mentioned, he made a statement that what you did here on earth will determine your destiny in heaven.

And I think you interpreted that as the fact that well you have to get into the the part of your works and i’m just wondering and i’m just couldn’t stay without it you think that the bible says that we are to the christians be judged all of these people on his on his arm all of the rewards and have according to what you’re absolutely right but i don’t think that’s what they’re teaching up if you know all all these guys that are in together with that record movement including Bill Hybels of Chicago.

If you read Bill Hybels’ website, and they use this term relationship, which can be really a misleading thing. A relationship is a result of our trusting Christ. It’s not the means of our salvation. And when you trust Christ, you become related to God and it’s eternal, it can never be undone. You don’t become unborn, what you become born again. But in Bill Hybels’ statement on his website, He says, if you begin a relationship with Jesus Christ and you be pleased to continue that relationship until you die, then God will be pleased to continue that relationship into eternity.

But if you begin a relationship with Christ and you’re not pleased to continue that relationship until you die, then God will not be pleased to continue it into eternity. So basically, yes, they talk about Christ, but you have to do your part and continue the relationship. And that’s not what the Bible teaches. When I became born into my mom and dad’s family as their son, it had nothing to do with anything that I would do. Whether I was obedient or disabedient, I was their son.

Whether I pleased them or displeased them, I was still their son. And I’m still there, son, even though they’ve passed on into heaven and in eternity. I am still the biological son of my mom and dad. And when you trust Christ, you become born again, you become a child of God, and that’s eternal. That can never be lost, can never be undone. And so there’s nothing that can damage that relationship. And yet the modern teaching is that this relationship can be broken, which means you can lose your salvation.

It’s really a subtlety. You have to really pay attention to what they’re saying carefully, or you’ll become deceived. And if you read the purpose driven life, you have to get to chapter 8 before you ever get to the point of salvation. And there it seems like this is the same theme. It’s like you get on a train, and if you ride the train to the end, then you get off at the destination, which is heaven. And that again is a workspace situation because once you trust Christ at the moment you trust Him, you receive eternal life at that moment and possess it forever thereafter.

I receive eternal life at eighteen and I’ll have it forever and ever and ever and ever and ever or God named it by the wrong name He should have called it temporary life or a trial period or probation But he offers salvation and so I was saved for eternity at the moment I trusted Christ and I’m never in danger of ever being lost I can like you say lose my rewards or lose my joy my Effectiveness my testimony, but I could never lose my salvation, but I don’t believe that’s what Rick Warren is saying at all Yes, there is some, we are always trying to get across with the fact that he found the people that according to your work, they are on earth, according to your beings to God here on earth, would determine your place in heaven because he would leave your words.

That is not what he says. In the video that I have just a few feet from my hands right now, he says, what you do on earth will determine where, where, W-H-E-R-E, where you spend eternity. not talking about rewards. He’s saying where you’ll spend eternity. That means heaven or hell. So what you do on earth will determine where you spend eternity. Surely we want to thank you though for calling in and we have a couple of books in our Resource Center here deceived on purpose about the Rick War movement and also another one who’s driving the purpose-driven church.

It’ll really open your eyes and I invite you to order them through Bible life. What wraps up today’s question and answer segment. As believers in Jesus, there is no other topic that is more important to us than the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it was Dr. Hank Lindstrom’s mission to spread the gospel. Through your prayers and ongoing financial support for Bibleline, you too can help spread the gospel of Christ throughout the world and reach others with the message of salvation through Jesus.

Please, prayerfully consider supporting Bibleline by visiting our website at BibleLineMinistries.org and getting copies of any of our resources, such as Dr. Lindstrom’s audio CDs on How Permanent is Your Salvation. Plus many others. Join us now as we continue today’s teaching series from Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Happy as he that read it and they can hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things what you’re there in. So this is a book where we ought to put our nose, right?

And take a look and listen and hear what it says because there’s a blessing for us in this book. This is an exciting book. And obviously it is a book that has a special blessing associated with it. I don’t see that although there is a blessing in reading the rest of the Word of God but in you open up the epistles it doesn’t say blessed. It’s he that readeth the book of Romans, you know. But here we have blessed and he that readeth the book of Revelation and those that hear the words of this prophecy, the book of Revelation, and those that keep those things which are written in this book, the book of Revelation, it says, there is a blessing for us.

And then it says, for the time is at hand, and as I said, there is no break between what John writes that he’s told about, and it’s actually taking place before our very eyes. Verse 4, we find now John’s name mentioned again, and John here to the seven churches which are in Asia. There were seven literal churches that existed in what is now Asia Minor and in the modern day country of Turkey. And we find that those seven churches existed at the time this letter was written.

I’ve had the privilege of visiting four of the seven. I didn’t get to all seven. I would have liked to have it. Maybe in the future I might get a chance before the Lord comes back. Maybe, but it doesn’t look too lightly. The way things are going. But in any case, they were seven literal churches. And they seem to be somewhat in a circle. And that’ll become important in a few more minutes. So keep that in mind. Here is the introduction.

Grace beyond you and peace. All believers experience both. We’re saved by grace. By grace are you saved through faith, Ephesians 2-8. We are kept by grace. Romans 5-2 says we stand in this grace. He keeps us saved by grace and kept by grace and we’re recipients of God’s grace, his mercy for all he takes. It says here, peace comes, trust Christ is Savior, in that we are no longer alienated from God, enemies of God, estranged from God, but we become born into his family.

and peace was made at the cross by Jesus’ death and every believer experiences mercy and peace from Him which is and which was and which is to come. And that is God the Father. And you’re going to see that this book is addressed to us from all three members of the Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And so first up, this book is coming to us from God the Father. It is interesting that the first book of the Bible, which is the book of beginning, and this book, which is the book that ends all things, both include all three members of the Godhead as they open.

The book of Genesis has in the beginning God, and that word is Elohim in the Hebrew, and it means God is a plurality. And includes God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Holy Spirit is mentioned in verse 2 where it says the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters in Genesis 1 2. And then we find the God had mentioned throughout the book of Genesis. And same is true here in the book of Revelation.

So it says from him which is and which was and which is to come. Here’s the eternal God, God the Father. Then it says, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne, the seven spirits we believe are the one and same Holy Spirit, but in his fullness in his sevenfold attributes. We’re going to turn to Isaiah 11 for just a moment, and I want you to get ready to count with me, and we’re going to count 7 as we talk about the Holy Spirit back in the book of Isaiah.

As soon as I arrive there, I’ll give you the page number. If that helps, if you have a Scofield Bible, it will. If you have anything else, you’re on your own. and this will be page 723. We have a wonderful passage here that talks about Jesus, 700 years before He came the first time. And we find here in verse 2 it talks about the Holy Spirit that would empower Jesus Christ while He was here on the earth. And the things that Jesus did as the man Jesus did, He did by the power of the Spirit of God that was upon Him, that came upon him at the baptism of John.

This says in Isaiah 11 verse 2, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him Christ, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. So if you’re ready, let’s count. The Holy Spirit is called the spirit of the Lord or of Jehovah or Yahweh. Shall rest upon him. Number two, the spirit of wisdom. Number three, he’s the spirit of understanding. Number four, he’s called the spirit of counsel.

Number five, he’s called the spirit of might. Number six, he’s called the spirit of knowledge. And number seven, he’s called the spirit of the fear of the Lord. We’re gonna have that expression about the seven spirits of God, but it’s referring to the Holy Spirit in his sevenfold fullness. And you’re gonna see that again in Revelation. So we’ll probably mention Isaiah 11 to again, but I hope you were able to count. Seven there, and Isaiah 11 to. Let’s go back down to Revelation.

And we’re going to take a look now at verse 5. And it says, and from Jesus Christ. So we had God the Father, the one which is and which was and which is the come. Then we have the Holy Spirit, which is described here as the seventh Spirit, which are before His throne. And then thirdly in verse 5 it says, and from Jesus Christ. And so that is the third of the Godhead mentioned here as this letter is coming from all three members of the Godhead.

In verse 5 it says, who is the faithful witness? Jesus Christ came in human flesh to reveal God to man in a human form. And He obviously is the very exact image of God, the expression of God, and His words are the words of God. And He spoke truthfully. And Jesus said, verily, verily, numerous times, which means truthfully, truthfully. He speaks faithfully, the Word of God, and communicates to us what God wants us to know about Himself. He is also called here the first begotten of the dead.

He’s not the first one ever to be raised from the dead, but He has this title, which is that He is the first of His own power ever to rise from the dead, and all others who have ever been raised from the dead are raised at His power or at His command, as Christ is the one who allows those that are dead to come forth. If Christ did not allow them to come forth, they would never come forth. And Jesus said Himself in John 5, 25, the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.

And the day that here shall live. And then it says, all the dead will one day respond to His voice to come out of the grave, those that are saved and those that are lost. And we know that at a time interval between that, but Christ is the one who calls the unsaved out of the grave and will cast them in the hell. He’s the one who calls the saved out of the grave. Of course, our souls are with the Lord, but our bodies are in the grave.

You know, call forth our new body and we’ll be reunited, soul and spirit one day. He goes on to say here also that he is the prince of the kings of the earth. The earth is waiting for this prince to come and become king over the earth. That is what we call the kingdom. The kingdom is the earthly rule of Christ. It will last a thousand years. this book in chapter 20 mentions that length of rule is a thousand years six times in that one chapter only.

And so Jesus Christ is about to come. He’s the prince of the kings of the earth. But there’s a day coming when he’ll rule as king over the Jews in the millennium and king over all the other kings of the earth. And so he’ll be king of kings and Lord of lords that is second coming as he physically rules the earth from Jerusalem as Jerusalem will become the world’s capital, not Washington, D.C., not Moscow, not any of these other cities that we think of around the world as great cities.

But we find that Jerusalem will become the world’s capital. And you can see the conflict already as we approach the Lord’s return over Jerusalem because Satan also wants Jerusalem and Satan’s antichrist will rule temporarily over Jerusalem. And so there’s a scrap over Jerusalem going on even as we speak, isn’t there? It’s interesting, isn’t it? And they talked about this wall that’s going through Jerusalem, a wall that’s I think 28 feet high and will go 430 miles when it’s totally completed.

And it’s interesting, I believe the Bible mentions that wall in prophecy. We’re going to take a little side detour and look at Deuteronomy 28 for just a moment. And it’s almost like reading the newspaper before the newspaper prints the headlines, we’re reading about it in the Bible. Thanks for listening to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom. We’d like to continue with Dr. Lindstrom’s teaching that we are out of time for today. We hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s program and that you are learning from it.

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

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

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

Or visit Bibleline online at BibleLineMinistries.org. Be sure to tune in to another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. And secondly, he says he would not lose one. That means you’re not keeping your salvation. You are not keeping your salvation. God is keeping you saved. We are kept saved by the power of God. And Jesus is actually holding you. He’s keeping you saved according to the Bible. And so I hope that you will just take those verses and write them down and memorize them.

And, and I hope that you will be able to do that. Obviously, this is the assurance that we can have as believers. In Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 5, it says there, and this is the words of Christ. He says, I will never leave thee, and I will never forsake thee. Now never means never. Jesus says, I’ll never leave thee. Think about this scenario. Let’s say you did lose your salvation and you went to hell. Jesus would have to go to hell with you.

He said, I will never leave you. That’ll never happen. Jesus will never go to hell. And obviously, if Jesus makes the promise, I will never leave you. And I will never forsake you. How can you ever want to have an hell? How can you ever become lost once you become saved? He says, I will never leave you. I’ll never forsake you. Unbelievable. But it’s amazing what people believe. And if you believe you can lose it, you really don’t have much right because you don’t have salvation right, which is the foundation.

And if you believe you can lose it, you’re really saying you have to do something, you get it, or keep it. And if you are saying that, then you’re trusting in your works for your salvation. And my friend, you’re not saved. I’ll never forget a young man I talked to years ago. And I asked him where he’d go when he died, and he said, Heaven, I said, how do you know? He says, I’ve trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior.

I asked him a question. I said, well, what if you don’t read your Bible anymore? What if you don’t go to church anymore? What if you backslide and you die? What would happen then? Oh, he said, I’d go to hell. I said, you’re not saved. He said, yes, I am. I said, no, you’re not. He said, yes, I am. I said, no, you’re not. I said, the reason why you’re not saved is because you’re trusting in your works. He said, no, I’m not.

I said, yes, you are. He said, no, I’m not. I said, yes, you are. And I said, let me just explain it this way. Maybe I’ve got it wrong. Let’s just ask you the question here. Are you telling me that from this moment on, Successly and you die that you’re going to have any said yeah, that’s exactly right I said, but are you telling me that from this moment on if you don’t live the Christian life successfully and you backslide and quit serving the Lord And that then you’ll go to hell.

He said yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying Well, don’t you see what you’re saying you’re saying that from this point until when you die what you do Whether you serve Lord or whether you don’t serve Lord Whether you backslide or whether you don’t backslide is what determines what you’re going to go to heaven that’s works You’re trusting in your works. And I said, you’re lost. You’re not saved. And anyway, the next day I saw him again and he said, you know, I couldn’t sleep all last night.

I thought about what you said and I realized you were right. And somewhere during the middle of the night, he got saved. He trusted Jesus Christ alone, realizing it was not based on his works, what he did in the past or what he’s doing in the present or what he’ll do in the future. is what Christ did for him at the cross that would save him. He says, but I’ve got a big problem. I said, what’s your big problem?

He says, I need to tell my dad. I said, well, what’s the problem with telling your dad? He says, well, my dad is a preacher. And he’s the one that taught me the other way. I said, well, I understand. But I said, would you do the same thing that I did with you, with your dad? Say, dad, is this what you teach? If I live the Christian life from this point on faithfully, till I die, then I’ll go to heaven.

Dad, if I don’t live the Christian life successfully and I backslide and I’ll go to hell, Dad, that’s works. Because that is what I’m doing from now till death that determines my salvation and makes me the Savior not Christ. And I’m not going to be saved according to the Bible. If I’m trusting in what I’m going to do or not going to do, if I’m trusting in how I live my life to save me, that’s works. And you’ll not be saved.

Again, we have to run. God bless, keep hookin’ up, Jesus is coming, and we believe He’s coming soon. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, the presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida. Your regular monthly donations to Bibleline make it possible for this ministry to continue in your area and on the Internet. Please contact us today and lend your prayerful and financial support. Bibleline’s address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. or visit Bibleline Online and BibleLineMinistries.org. Be sure to tune in to another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida.