Bibleline Radio Show – 2009-05-28

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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 whenever searching world. To reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep Bibleline on the air in your community, dial toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Thanks for joining us here today. This is Tom Perry for Bibleline Ministries. You are just in time to hear 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 through simply trusting Jesus Christ alone as your Savior. If you have not yet trusted Jesus, we encourage you to do so. Please visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org for information that could change your eternity. We pray that you will come to trust Jesus as your Savior and be saved to the glory of God.

We hope that you will plan to open your Bible and join us for this 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. Don’t forget to tell your friends and family about Bible line. If Bibleline isn’t being broadcast in their area, then ask them to visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org.

If you miss any of the teachings in this series, call our resource center at 1-800-576-3771. Now, open your Bible to the book of Revelation chapter 3 and join us for Dr. Lindstrom’s teaching for today. And as the Reformation period began to move along, it began to lose what it had at its beginning. I know thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest in art dead. As we look back upon the Reformation, what happened? What happened is that people who were descendants of those great reformers simply today are living in name and many times don’t even know that Christ is our Savior.

For example, you ask a person, you know, are you saved? And they’ll say, I’m a Lutheran. Or I’m a Presbyterian. Or I’m a West African. Or I’m a Methodist. And what are they doing? They’re living the name of their reformer. And yet they don’t know Jesus as their Savior. I was raised in a Protestant church. And my whole church, only anybody who saved my pastor or anyone. But we were living a name and we had this history that we clung to and we thought was important.

And yet we didn’t know the Lord as our Savior. And that’s what happened to many of the Reformation churches. They became dead and formal and lost their zeal and their message. I remember a number of years back I spoke at a banquet in Fort Lauderdale for the first Methodist Church of Fort Lauderdale and I gave the gospel at 250, 300 people were there and at the invitation I gave an invitation and we had about 40 or 50 people get saved.

All of a sudden the minister of that church jumped to his feet and he said, I want your attention. He says, I want you not to believe a word this man said tonight. He said, what he gave you tonight was not Methodist doctrine and you’re to reject what he said. When he got done I said, Your minister is exactly right. I didn’t give you Methodist doctrine tonight. I gave you Bible doctrine. And you have to choose between the Bible and Methodist doctrine if you want to be saved.

I never was invited back. But you know, really, some people cling to these doctrines which are dead and cannot save and miss the message of the Bible which is faith in Christ is Savior. Thank the Lord for giving me an answer on the spot that was a good one, you know, because that’s true. I said, He’s absolutely right. minister, I did not present methadysctor in here tonight, I presented Bible doctrine. Then you have to choose. Are you going to choose the Bible or the method of doctrine?

And if you choose the Bible, you choose life. If you choose the other, you might be choosing death. So that’s where it stood. Well, that’s what has happened. You know, today, if someone were to ask you about your faith, what would you say? I like to put down, I’m a believer in Jesus Christ. You know, if you go into the hospital, you always want to know what is your faith. And they don’t like me because I put down, I’m a believer in Jesus Christ.

Well, that doesn’t fit into our computer. We don’t have that category here. And I don’t care right at end because that’s what I am. I’m a believer in Jesus Christ. But really, what are you? Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, what are you? I’m a believer in Jesus Christ. Write that down. We don’t have a space for that. We’re writing it in anyway because that’s what I am. I’m a believer in Jesus Christ. Why don’t we stand up for what we believe and tell people what we are?

Because that’s what we are. And yet, this is what happened out of the Reformation. People began to be pigeon-told in some particular denominational name. And by the way, the word Protestant really comes from the word to protest. These were people at the beginning because of these reformers who stood up and protested the false teaching of the Roman Catholic Church and said, we are protesters. And so the protesters were called Protestants. Did you know why you were called Protestant if you are?

That’s because your forefathers in the faith were protesting the false doctrine. Martin Luther protested what the Catholic Church taught and said they’re wrong and typed his thesis to the church door and said this is wrong and he started the Reformation and the flames were fired by people getting the Bible in their own language. They began to read and discover for themselves this is true. This is where they discovered the freedom that you learn when you are set free from this fear going to hell or purgatory and all these other things that people keep you enslaved with.

And you learn that the truth will set you free and if you’re free by Christ and you’re free indeed. We are truly free men and our early forefathers came to this country to spread that freedom and look at where we’ve come since and as a Super Bowl is an example of what happened as wow. what has happened in our face in our country where everything that is anti-God almost was I guess a part of the halftime show. I missed it.

I didn’t see it, but I’m glad I didn’t. I didn’t miss much I guess from what I hear on the news. But you know really think about where our country has gone and I think a lot of commentators in the past few days have been saying that where are we going and where will it finally wind up. And obviously we’re living in an evil time again coming up. And guess what? The tribulation period will be the darkest hours on earth.

We’re rapidly approaching it, aren’t we? And once we’re gone, we’re the ones who are, the ones who have the Holy Spirit in us that are restraining evil in this world today. But once the restrainer, the Holy Spirit has taken out, we go out, the earth will be plunged into its darkest hours of history. Verse 2 says, Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to what? The Reformation Church became cold, formal, and lost its message. And that was sad.

So he says, Be watchful, strengthen things whichFY remain that are ready to die, for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Notice God brings a judgment upon this particular church. Remember, though, for how thou hast received? How did they receive? By faith. alone, salvation by faith alone, and heard, and hold fast and change your mind. So they needed to go back to the principles that were brought to light by the reformers themselves. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I’ll come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I come upon thee.

And we’ll be cut off guard by the rapture, and be plunged into the tribulation period themselves. So many people who are members of Reformation churches are going to wind up being left behind at the rapture and being plunged into the tribulation period. That’s what he’s saying here. Then he says in verse 4, Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.” That’s talking about again, there were those who held to the truth and had the garment of salvation instead of the garment of our own works, which is filthy rags.

You know Isaiah 64, 6 says that our righteousnesses are its filthy rags. But the believer has a garment that cannot be defiled. It is God’s righteousness that is credited to the believer and therefore they are worthy. And then in this promise we have that reiterated. It says in verse 5, he that overcometh, who is the overcomer? 1 John 5, 4 and 5, tells us it’s the believer. Number one, the same shall be clothed in what? White Raymond. So the white Raymond is the righteousness of Christ that is credited to the account of the believer, and God sees us in white.

So there were some out of the Reformation who still held those truths. Praise God for those. They’re worthy to enter heaven because of Christ’s righteousness being credited to them. Secondly, the overcomer in verse 5, God makes the promise, I’ll not blot out your name out of the book of life. Contrary to what we’ve all been taught, we’re usually taught that when we believe on Christ, our names are written down in the book. And we sing about that, how our names are written down when we believe.

But the Bible tells us that everybody’s name is in the book from the get-go and that if you become a believer during your life, he makes a promise to you that your name will never be brought about. But if you die in unbelief rejecting Christ, your name is stricken at death. And so that if the judgment when the lost are going to be cast into hell, their names will not be found at that time in the book. But if you become a believer, you’re stuck.

You have to go to heaven, whether you like it or not. You’ll not be heard of the second death revelation to 11. Your name will never come out of the book of life because you may have given God’s promise, his word, you don’t never bought your name out. And you also are worthy to enter into heaven because you have Christ’s garment of salvation. The righteousness of Christ has been credited to your account. And then lastly, he says, I’ll confess his name before my father and before his angels.

Do you know what happens when you get saved? Apparently, according to this verse, your name is announced in heaven. And I used to misread the verse in Luke where it said there’s joy in the presence of the angels when one person gets saved. And I used to read that that the angels rejoiced, but it doesn’t say that. It says that there is joy in the presence of the angels. who is rejoicing in heaven. It’s the believers when they discover one of their relatives, one of their friends.

Another person down here has gotten saved. It’s announced in heaven. Their name is announced. Wow! Mankal Harry got saved. And in heaven, the believers are just going, you know, high fives and jumping up and down and excited in the presence of angels who watch on as spectators. And what does it say here? That all confesses name before my Father before as angels. So the announcement is made in the presence of God the Father and in the presence of the angels But it’s the believers in heaven that rejoice what a person gets saved Every time I do a funeral I tell you look your loved one if they were believer is in heaven and if you trust Christ at this service for their Homegoing to heaven your name will be announced in Heaven and And although they can’t look back down here, they’re going to rejoice that you got saved

and will be joining them one day. I love to tell people that and I see lots of people get saved at every funeral I do. And you know I tell them, if you want everyone to see that person again, you have to trust Christ. They’re in heaven because they trusted Christ. And if you want to bring joy to them right now in heaven, at this time of sadness, trust Christ right now, your name is going to be announced up there and your dear loved one who’s up there is going to be rejoicing with all the other believers in the presence of all the angels that when this announcement takes place.

And so your loved one will be looking forward then to seeing you when you come because they know you’re coming because you believed and they’re rejoicing. 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 predestination, false gospels, and is Lordship Salvation.counterfeit gospel?

In addition to many others, please contact our Resource Center at 1-800-576-3771. Now please join us for a segment featuring Dr. Lindstrom answering questions from callers. So we’re gonna go to Jason in South Tampa. Welcome to Bibleline Jason. Hello. Hello. I have just one quick question. I hear a lot when people are praying for healing or something. They use the passage by his stripes that you’re healed. Yes. And I was just wondering, I’ve always thought that that that meant uh…

by his stripes with by him dying on the cross and the suffering he went through that were healed spiritually but on and i didn’t know if that could be used for like physical hearing healing i hear that a lot so i’ll just let you get you what you have to say on that and i know all right uh… you know i believe they are taking that out of context that’s in from i say fifty three word talks about christ crucifixion seven hundred years before it actually happens and tells us of course about the stripes, I think, where the whipping that he took by the scourging of the soldiers, and prior to his actually being nailed to the cross, he was scourged, which by itself would almost take a man’s life.

In fact, they were restricted to 39 stripes because more than that would certainly kill a man and bring a man near death by the discouraging, which really cut open the flesh of the back. And as the intensity went along, it would actually cut open the back and historical accounts say that the bowels would hang out and so on. And so it was a bloody, ugly, terrible thing that would be afflicted upon somebody in Christ. It was scourged before he was nailed on the cross.

So we find that Jesus, of course, died to pay for our sins. And I think that’s what it’s all about. And of course, we’re healed in the sense that we are going to get a brand new body when we get to heaven. This body is going to die. And God never promises that we’re going to live forever in this body. And thank God we don’t. We certainly wouldn’t want to live in a sinful body. But all of us, no matter what you go through and what you might survive in life and maybe surgeries and other medical problems that you maybe get cancer removed or this, that, and the other.

And so you’re still going to only live about 70 or 80 years. Psalms 90 tells us it’s appointed unto men to live three score in 10, that’s 70 years. And then it says sometimes even by reason of strength we might make 80 or more. And that’s just by the grace of God. But ultimately we’re all going to die. And so to think of healing you have to recognize it. Ultimately we’re all terminal. We’re all going to die and you might be temporarily relieved of a problem.

But you’re not going to be permanently relieved of a problem in this body because the real promise is for the new body. We’ll get an heaven. And so certainly I find the real remedy for every problem is to know Christ because I receive eternal life and from that moment on I’m assured of going to heaven and I’m going to get a brand new body in heaven that will not have cancer, that will not have disease. And you read about that in Revelation chapter 21 where it talks about there will be no more crying and no more sorrow and no more death and no more sickness and so on because we’ll be in our new bodies and we’ll be with the Lord and we’ll never experience any of those things ever again which is really got to be great news.

We’re going to go now to Bill in St. Petersburg. Bill, welcome to Bibleland. Sir, how are you doing today? Good. I really appreciate your program and out of all the people I listen to you, you’re about the most biblical guy that I know. So I want to just say thank you for that. I wish people would understand that the Lord Jesus gave his wife if you accept him as Romans 10, 9 says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and believe in God and heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

That’s right. That’s why he died. You’ve got to accept him. Once you accept him, you become his child. Of course you’re going to do things wrong just like your own children do. But you are going to go to heaven if you accept Jesus as your Lord God. I mean, it’s that simple. Amen, Bill, you’re right on. And you’re going to go on if you’re born again, you’re not going to go on and do willful sin. I mean, you’re going to, I can’t tell you all the stuff I used to do that I don’t do now because I’m born again.

I used to steal from people and nothing twice about it you know that was my career but now after being born again i i don’t want to do that anymore i mean but i still do things i still think things bad you know i i i i do things that are bad but i come to my senses and i repent and god is always going to take me back and i’m just overjoyed i wish people they want so little where they could just accept his what he did on the cross and go on with your life and look forward to going to heaven amen and and and the wonderful thing is that once you’re saved you’re free then to concentrate on serving him i’m not worried about my salvation anymore that’s something that christ did for me but now i can show how grateful i am by letting my life be lived for him and i can

concentrate on that i’d like to point out what you know scripture here that i wish that i’ll hope that the holy spirit will use you know that god’s mercy he wants these other people which I don’t know if they’re not safe or not because that’s God’s judge’s a heart. But I wish they would realize that Jesus, they’re not accepting his sacrifice. I mean if you look in Hebrew 6, 1 it says, therefore leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ.

Christ let us go on to perfection, not laying again foundations of repentance from dead works and of faith for God, of the doctrine of baptisms and laying on of hands in the resurrection of the dead in a turtle judgment and these things we will do if God permit. That’s right. I mean that’s as clear what what’s going on here is we’re you know we we’re still going over these things. We’re supposed to have already laid these aside and no one missed.

This is an assurance. Now we’re supposed to go on a perfection. You know right we’re I mean we’re not going to attain perfection in ourselves but we’re going to try our dang this and when we do sin, we have an advocate. I mean the Lord God Jesus, we could talk to Himself, ask Him to forgive us and guess what? He will. Amen. I mean so for people to think that you could just Willfully go out and do whatever you want.

That’s not the case. If you’re a born-again Christian, you live under fear every single day. God, I hope God doesn’t kill me today for that thing I did. Because He could kill you, but He loves you. He doesn’t want to do that. But if you be rebellious, I mean, He’s gonna punish you just like you say. He will chastise you because He loves you. But He’s not gonna kick you out of heaven. That’s right. I mean, come on. And I love those people and God bless them in the name of the Lord Jesus Amen because God loves them and we’re not coming against them.

We just want them to understand they miss something I mean gosh, I can’t believe it, but I God bless you in the name of Lord Jesus, sir All right. Thank you bill and God bless you. Thanks for taking my call. We’re gonna go to Tampa and talk to Fred Fred. Welcome to my blood. Hello. Hey, how are you? Good morning good? There are, I think, four passages of Scripture in Revelation that identify the Lord Jesus Christ as the Alpha and Omega.

Now, I thought previously I’ve heard you teach in some of our classes that Alpha and Omega is the name for Jehovah God in the Old Testament. Would I haven’t been able to find the reference? Can you help me out? And I’ll go ahead and hang up and listen. It doesn’t actually say alphanomaga because that’s Greek, but it does say and it’s made equivalent to the first and the last The alphan the omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet But there are numerous references like Isaiah 44 six that say God is the first and the last the beginning and the end and that’s equivalent to alphan omega Okay, so it’s the Isaiah 44 Isaiah 44 six and I’m sure your Bible guide you to other references and say the same thing it says in a number of times that God is the first and the last,

He’s the beginning and the end. And in the New Testament it uses the expression alphanomaga which would be like to say I am the A and the Z. And then the Jehovah witness are faced with a dilemma here. So either the word of God is not reliable or Jesus Christ is God. Absolutely because Jehovah said He is the first and the last and here Jesus says He is the first and the last. So either the Bible is in harmony and Jesus is Jehovah or God or Yahweh, or Christ is an imposter, a liar, and we have a contradiction that’s a major contradiction and we’d have to reject obviously all of the New Testament if that were the case and reject Christ.

Okay. Alright, thank you very much John. Hang up and listen. Very good, thank you Fred. And obviously Jesus was told in the Old Testament, I have a sheet that I’ve written where I have 180 different names for Christ in the Bible. And we begin early in Genesis. And it’s a wonderful Bible study because if you look up each one and then you kind of find them, you can find that Christ is there in the Old Testament in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth and so on.

Because the prophets all spoke about him and Peter tells us that in Acts 10, 43, Peter says to Christ give all the prophets witness that through His name, the name of Jesus Christ, that whosoever believeth in Him shall receive the remission of their sins. So Peter clearly tells us that all the prophets talked about Christ and that they taught salvation by faith in Christ and Old Testament saints were saved by believing on Christ. In Galatians 3a it says, Abraham heard the gospel and believed it and that’s how he was saved.

So God preached before the gospel unto Abraham according to Galatians 3a. And Abraham becomes the father of all those that believe and he believed on Christ. And if you want to be saved the way Abraham was saved you have to believe on Christ as your Savior. That’s just the way it works. We hope that you’re learning with us as you listen to this question and answer segment featuring Dr. Hank Lindstrom. If you’d like to hear today’s program again, then please visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org.

There you’ll be able to replay today’s program in our audio archives as well as access other resources, including a Bible search tool and flashcards, 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 Bible teaching from Doc Leak, don’t go away. Bibleline will be back in a moment. To pledge your support for Bibleline, give us a call at 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. Somebody brought up the topic this week on the Radio Easy Believism and what is easy Believism? Usually the phrase easy Believism is a slam against those who teach the salvation is not by human works but by faithful own in Jesus Christ. It is clear that the Scriptures teach that salvation is received by faith only. It is the finished work of Christ that there is no human involvement but to receive it and it says in Ephesians by grace, by mercy, are you saved through faith in Jesus Christ and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Not of works, lest any mention boast or brag. That’s Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. And so salvation definitely is a gift and it is not of works and it is not of yourself and it is by mercy that you receive through faith in trusting Jesus Christ as your Savior. Well, easy-believism is a way of saying that salvation by faith in Jesus Christ alone is just too easy. It’s too simple, they say. Those who use this phrase easy-believeism are usually saying that there must be more to salvation than just faith in Jesus Christ.

The Bible tells us that Satan would use this fact that the gospel message is a very simple message to deceive people. It says in 2 Corinthians 11-3, but I fear less by any means as the serpent Satan begal Eve that was Adam’s wife Through his subtlety so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ So one of the most common objections to the true gospel is it’s too simple and Satan uses the fact that it’s simple To cause you not to believe isn’t it amazing Satan is a clever devil Satan changes the true gospel into a counterfeit message by addition or subtraction.

In other words, Satan adds human works and human effort to the planet’s salvation in order to make the message of none effect. First Corinthians 1 17 Paul makes this remarkable statement. He says that he doesn’t flower up the message, he doesn’t embellish it with fancy human words less the cross of Christ be made of none effect. So obviously Paul was very conscious of his wording, of his terminology, lest he would add to or subtract from this wonderful message and make it of none effect.

That means zero effect. That means if you change the message, it becomes a message that is a curse. It becomes a message that will not save. And that’s what I heard for the first 18 years of my life in my church. I heard a message that was not capable of saving me, and although I wanted to be saved, I was told a false method of being saved, and it wasn’t until I was 18 that I learned that Jesus paid it all, and all I needed to do was trust in the finished work that Christ performed for me at the cross to not believe the record that God gave in the Scriptures makes it null and void.

Let me quote to you, 1 John 5, 10, it says, He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself, he, the belief that not God, has made him a liar. And then it says because because because because he believed it’s not the record that God gave of his son. So I John 5, 10, great verse. If you don’t believe the record that God gave in the Scriptures concerning Jesus Christ, then you’re calling God a liar.

Why? It says because you believe not the record that God gave of his son. To add just one human work to the plan of salvation would place a person before God without any mercy, without any grace, with no salvation they would not be saved. It says in Romans 11, 6, if my grace, which means unmerited favorite, means mercy, if by grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more of grace.

Otherwise work is no more work. You might say what in the world did you just say? Well, it sounds a little confusing, but it’s saying that grace and works are opposite and you can’t mix them. Just like because it’s daytime right now, it can’t be nighttime. Otherwise daytime wouldn’t be daytime. But if it were nighttime, then it couldn’t be daytime or nighttime wouldn’t be nighttime. What we’re saying here is that it can’t be daytime and nighttime at the same time.

Can you follow that? Well, the Bible says if it’s by grace, then it can’t be by works. Otherwise, grace isn’t grace. If it be by works, then it’s not by grace, otherwise work is not work. You can’t mix the two. They are opposite. And so if you attempt to be saved by any works, you’re not going to have any grace. And that means you’re not going to enter heaven. You’ll not be saved. The Bible tells us by grace are we saved through faith and whenever that’s presented in the Bible, guess what?

The Bible is very clear to exclude works. We’re going to rejoin stations that have been on break into the second half hour by one. 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… 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. I’m Dr. Anglin Strim and we’re going to go right to the phone lines. This is Todd and Tampa welcome to Bibleline. Hey Dr. Ang, how you doing today? Good morning. Good. Listen, now this weekend I was watching TV and I come across the channel and channel 20 and I know you’ve heard about this.

Yeah. These guys sitting on their chairs, taught preaching works. Yep. And they came across a verse that was really troubling to me. I know you can you can help me out on this. He was saying that he does not commit sin because he has God applied it inside him. Now the verse they were using was first john chapter three eight nine now i want you to help me out on the same that he doesn’t send he says he does not send because he has a spirit of god in him and because of this he cannot send because god is in him and he used the verse uh…

he used to use it uh… it was first john three nine three yeah well it’s you know first on one eight first of all it looks like a contradiction first john one eight says if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. And then it says in verse nine of chapter three, who, soever, is born of God, does not commit sin for his seed, that is God’s seed, remaineth in him any counts.

And I believe that’s referring to the new birth. When we trust Christ, we have a new birth that is not capable of sinning, but we still have with us our old nature, which still does sin. And let me share with you an interesting verse in Ephesians, which I think helps clarify this, and also one in Peter. In Ephesians 4 verse 22, it tells us as believers that we should put off concerning the former conversation or manner of life or behavior.

The old man is the flesh nature, the adamat nature, the nature that we have inherited from Adam. And it says that we should put off the former manner of behavior or the way we lived our lives, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. old man is corrupt and we have that corrupt nature with us until we either die or at the rapture we will lose the old nature and we won’t have a sinful nature anymore.

But then this is verse 24 and that you should put on the new man. I believe that’s the new birth, the new nature that we have when we accept Christ as our Savior and it describes it as which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. So the new man is righteous and holy and cannot sin, but the old man is inherited from Adam and still desires to sin and is corrupt. So we have those two natures. I believe John is trying to bring that out that we have two natures.

We have a nature that cannot sin and we have a nature that desires to sin and there’s a conflict therefore in the life of the believer as we need to choose each day to live after the new man, to put off the old man and to put on the new man. In other words, like a garment, you choose to to walk in your good suit and your good clothes and live for Christ. Another one is 1 Peter 1, where Peter says in verse 23 of 1 Peter 1, being born again, and then he says not of corruptible seed.

Now the first birth that we have is of a corruptible seed, Adam’s seed, but it says here being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God. So the new birth is of an incorruptible seed, and there you have that in 1 John 3.9, where it talks about God’s seed is in him. That is the incorruptible seed that we have in the new birth. And God cannot sin and this nature that we have from God cannot sin.

But yet at the same time the believer has the old nature. And John is very quick to point out in verse 8 of chapter 1 that if we say we don’t sin, we deceive ourselves. So they’re just picking and choosing here. 1 John 1 8 1 8. Yeah, that says if we if we say we have We’ll ask you about yeah Well obviously we sin so we have an old nature that plagues us until the day we die and and Paul discusses that in Romans 7 He was saved about 30 years when he says this in Romans chapter 7 and he says I know that in me that is in my flesh Dwelleth no good thing now.

Here’s Paul saved 30 years and he still has a a flesh nature that is not good. He says, I know that in my flesh dwelleth no good. no good thing for to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not for the good that I would I do not but the evil that I would not that I do and as Christians we have that struggle just like Paul did between an old nature that desires to sin and displease God and a new nature that does not sin and he goes on to describe them then he says I I find a law in verse 21 that when I would do good evil is present with me so that’s that sinful nature we have which is inherited from Adam but he says As I delight in the law of God after the inward man, now the inward man is the same

as the new man, the new nature, the new birth, and that one does not sin. Well I called in about a month ago and I had them squirming in their chairs, sweating bullets. I really did because I was reciting verses, I used Romans 11, 6, and then I went to Matthew 7, 22, and I mean they were, and I said, your sins are forgiven forever, and they said, no, and they said, show me where it’s at, and I said, go to Hebrews 10, 12.

There you go. and then they were scoring in their chairs and they had to go to a commercial it was funny but it’s a bit funny i know i feel sorry for me because obviously they’re not saying that they’re misleading people to accept their misleading people and they’re not saved if that be the case there obviously deceived in the fact that they say they don’t sin but also that they’re attempting to live that way to be saved which is works and therefore they’re not safe well thank you very much and that’s straightened out that i understand fully now i appreciate it beautiful thank you thought that was taught in tampa and uh…

Those are interesting passages. And Paul, obviously, was greatly disturbed by this. And he says in chapter 7, verse 24, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And of course, the answer is in verse 25, it’s Jesus Christ, and either at death or at the rapture we’re delivered from this body, which is a sinful nature that we have with us until death. And until then we will struggle with the problem of sin.

and you can do a number of things and that is some denied that they send which is obviously not the answer some denied that there is such a thing as sin you know that’s what the christian scientists believe you know the christian scientists believe there’s no such thing as sin or death or sickness and so on and they just uh… say it doesn’t exist so uh… interesting it’s just a total denial and obviously it doesn’t solve the problem Welcome to Bibleline.

Thank you. Good morning. Good morning. Could you give me an explanation of Colossians 1 15? I’m struggling with that verse and don’t have a clear understanding of it. All right. We’ll do that. Colossians 1 15, who, speaking of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature. Is that the one? That’s the one. Okay. Probably the second part is what you’re having difficulty with. That’s correct. of the very creature, that is the title of headship.

In the Old Testament, the one who was first born was not necessarily first born. In the case of Jacob and Esau, Esau was the first born and Jacob was the younger and God had predicted that the elder would serve the younger and it turned out that Esau served Jacob. Remember Esau sold his birthright, so Jacob who was the second born became the first born. So it was the title of headship and Christ became the first born head over all of creation as the first born in a family had the spiritual head of the family uh…

okay does that help a little bit and you’ll find that uh… that happens in the old testament where not necessarily the first born was considered the first born as far as the position or headship and christ is given that title or position that he’s the head over all of those things that have been created in this universe But not that he’s a created being. I know that Jehovah’s Witnesses like to use this to try to say that Christ was a created being and that he was the firstborn and using it in that way.

But does that make any sense for you? That does make sense. It still leaves me a little hanging there. It’s simply a title of headship and it talks here about Christ. It says in verse 14, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. And it tells us a little bit about who Christ is, that He is the image of the invisible God. So God revealed Himself in a human form so that He could be seen and God could reveal Himself.

And it tells us that he is… He is the firstborn of everything that has been created. In verse 16 it says, For by Him were all things created. So here we have him as the Creator. All things that are in heaven, things that are in earth visible and visible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him. That’s Jesus Christ and for Him. And then it says in verse 17 he is before all things.

So he existed prior to everything coming into existence. existence. And then it says, by him all things consist, that Greek word for consistor means are held together, which I believe includes even our very atoms. You know, the atoms, we ask ourselves, why do they hold together? Because, you know, they really should probably fly apart. I know I graduated in engineering in, in a nuclear physics class. We talked about the center of the atom being all positively charged particles, the protons and like particles repel, and here you have all these charged particles that are alike in the core of the atom and they repel each other.

Why doesn’t it just fly apart? In our class the professor said, well it’s just nuclear glue. I think that was just a nice simple answer. But really Christ, I believe is the one who holds each atom together. Should he take his hand off of the universe it would just explode and disappear. Oh, that’s beautiful. Yeah. Okay. So then the verse 18 goes on and says, he’s the head of the body, the church. In other words, he’s the head of everything.

He’s the head guy. Jesus Christ is God. So it can’t be that he’s the first born of creation. I mean, he wasn’t born in… No, no, it doesn’t mean that. It’s simply a title. And that’s why I brought up the examples of Jacob and Esau because the first born was Esau, saw, but he sold his birthright and so Jacob became the firstborn title wise, position wise. And Jesus has given that position just, he is the head of all creation.

I believe that’s what that phrase means. Okay, well thank you so much. All right, thank you. That was K down in Sarasota. So it’s a title of headship. Christ is the head. He’s the head of the church, verse 18. He’s the creator, verse 16. Everything that’s been created, has been created by Him, and all things are held together by Him. All things consist by His power. I was always fascinated with science and you know we have a lot of questions that we don’t really have a good answer for, and that is of course how are, for example the atoms held together, and obviously it must be Jesus who holds each atom together.

Can you imagine, to have control over every atom in the universe, apparently He does, And if he took his hand off, the atom really should come unglued. And that’s what happens when the balance is disturbed and we have a nuclear explosion, an atomic explosion. The atoms are split, they say, which is where they come unglued and they unleash the tremendous amount of energy that is contained with each and every one of them. That 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 getting copies of any of our resources, such as Dr.

Lindstrom’s audio CDs on the books of Ephesians or James, plus many others. Join us now as we continue today’s teaching series from Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Including the church I was raised in where you were just proud of your heritage and really didn’t know Christ is your Savior. And so there was a wonderful overcoming promise in verse 5 where it said if you were a believer, Three things would be true. You’d be clothed in white raiment, which is a picture of us being given Christ’s righteousness at the moment we believe and therefore are eligible for heaven.

Number two, the promise is made that your name will never come out of the book of life, that once you’re saved, you’re saved forever and your name will not be blotted out of the book. Thirdly, your name is confessed in heaven when you get saved. So when a person trusts the Lord of Savior, you’re all of a sudden well known in heaven because your name is announced and they’ll be waiting for you when you get there. We’re now going to verse 7 where we’re going to talk about the church at Philadelphia.

The word Philadelphia means brotherly love. This is the only church that does not have a rebuke. And this is a church that pictures the 18th and 19th centuries of Christianity. This was a wonderful time of evangelism. It says in verse 7, under the angel of the church, which is the pastor of the teacher, the leader of the church in Philadelphia, right. things say that is holy, that is true, and that has the key of David. He did open it and no man shut it and shut it and no man opened it.

And of course that’s Christ. And so Christ can open a door that nobody can shut. And it was during this time that we had just individuals that didn’t have much strength, but yet were able to accomplish great things for God. David Lindstrom went to Africa. William Carey went to India. And all the continents seemed to be opened up to the gospel, China. and the islands of the sea. These individuals had a great impact on the world. And as the age drew to a close, we had evangelists that were familiar with like Dale Moody, Billy Sunday, Charles Spurgeon over in England, and many others that came along that were powerful in their impact, although they were just individuals.

They didn’t have a large group of people behind them, but the Lord just opened doors that could not be shut and we are going to take a look at what God said about them. In verse 8 it says, I know thy works. Behold, I’ve set before thee an open door and no man can shut it. And then it says, something very interesting, for thou hast a little strength. Notice it was amazing how God blessed just the few. And it seems like throughout the Bible the ones who did great exploits for God were always outnumbered it seemed.

You know you think about Abraham and when his nephew was taken captive, and he went against the kings that had carried away his nephew captive. And he only had 318 men, his servants, and they went and defeated the kings there in chapter 14 of Genesis. And so they were outnumbered. You know the story of Joshua. Here he took his army and his march down the city and the walls came coming down. About Gideon, he finally went up with an army of 320 against 150,000 million knights, and he won.

David, in his slingshot, went against Goliath and challenged this giant of the Philistines and so on. And so throughout the Bible, it wasn’t the majority. Christ sent his twelve disciples out. In the book of Acts, you read, they say that these were the ones that turned the world upside down. Can you imagine? Just a handful doing a great job. And this is the way it can be. And each one of us can be a great impact upon the world around us.

There’s a secret here that we see other places in the Bible as well. And it says here there are two things that they did that if we knew I believe we’ll also find great success. We don’t have to have a lot of strength, but there are two things that we do need to do. That is they kept my word and secondly has not denied my name. Now the Reformation churches noticed, lived a name that really wasn’t the name of Christ, it was generally the name of the Reformer.

But here this group openly proclaimed Christ and they kept his word and these are two things that are important for us today. If we would keep the word of God and we would proclaim Christ’s name, God will bless our efforts in a mighty way. Now I want you to see that in other places we have the same connection and we can’t go all of them, but I want to go to one in Mark’s Gospel and we’re going to turn over to Mark’s Gospel, chapter 8.

And in Mark chapter 8, Jesus here is talking about discipleship and amazingly, a lot of preachers mix discipleship with salvation by grace and make void God’s offer because salvation is always by grace alone, apart from works. And we find here that many will add this as a means of your salvation when Christ is not talking about salvation, or he’s talking about reward. Verse 34, Mark chapter 8, when he called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me.

That’s a tip off we’re talking about the Christian life. We come to Christ to be saved. We come after Christ to be a disciple. We follow Christ to be a disciple. We simply come to Him to be saved. It says, whose river will come after Me, let Him deny Himself and take up His cross and follow Me? That is the formula for being a disciple of Christ, a servant of Christ. And how many times though have you heard preachers and evangelists use this as an invitation for you to be saved?

They’ll say, I want you to take up your cross tonight and follow Christ for sake all and come forward. Basically they make these as conditions of salvation, which is not correct. If you’re talking to believers about how to be a disciple, you ought to say that. But if you’re talking to a lost person about how to be saved, you’re to tell them to simply come to Christ and trust in His finished work at the cross and He’ll save you.

If you trust in Christ, He will save you. But we follow Christ. What did Christ say in Matthew 4, 19? Follow me and I’ll make you fishers of men. This is talking about the Christian life. Now, verse 35 says, who’s whoever will save his life shall lose it. What is that talking about? Who’s going to go to your house? The gospel’s the same as saying save it. What it’s talking about there is your life, where it’s going to count for eternity as to how you use it.

If you save your life, that is for your own desires and purposes in this life, when you stand before the judgment seat of Christ, you will have lost your life, or forfeited your life, because it will bring no reward. So if you are going to spend your life for yourself and your own purposes, then when you stand before the Lord, He’s going to say, what did you do for me? And you will have lost your life or forfeited your life because of no reward.

But if you lose your life, and we find terms around today that are like that, I’ve heard when somebody young who is sharp dedicates their life to serve the Lord, many times people will say, well, you’re throwing your life away. You’re wasting your talents. you could do this and you could do that and you could have this scholarship and you could attain these goals in this life and and for the world they say that you’re losing your life or wasting your life or throwing your life away if you live it for Christ.

Haven’t you heard those terms? I’ve seen that many times and if a person is less talented they’ll say well that’s that’s what you ought to do but it’s amazing how the world has its own agenda for people and here Christ is saying that if you will spend your life for me, people will think you’re wasting your life or throwing your life away. But in reality, you’re going to gain your life because it will be compensated for all that you did as you spent it for him.

It’ll be compensated in heaven. And you’ll be rich in heaven. You’ll have treasures in heaven. Verse 36, for what shall it profit? Whenever you see the word profit, you can know you’re not talking about salvation Because salvation is not earned, it is the gift of God, and you’ll find many, many verses that will say that. Romans 6, 23 says the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Ephesians 2, 8 says salvation is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God.

John 3, 16 says for God’s love the world that he gave, he’s only begotten the Son. And you can just go ahead and make your own list of lots of verses that point out salvation is a gift. It’s been paid for by Christ and we simply receive it. So here it says, what shall it profit a man if he shall gain? That has to do with profit or things you earn. If you gain the whole world and that it says you lose your own soul.

And because it says soul, a lot of preachers have got this wrong and they’ll preach this for salvation. Thanks for listening to Bible I’m with Dr. Hank Lindstrom. We’d like to continue with Dr. Lindstrom’s teaching but we are out of time for today. We hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s program and that you are learning from it. If you missed any part of today’s program or if you’d like to hear it again, please visit our website at 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 1-800-576-8 6,3,7,7,1. Or you can write us at Bibleline Ministries 4811, George Road, Tampa, Florida, 3,3,6,3,4. It was Dr. Lindstrom’s ministry to spread the Gospel of Salvation by telling all who would listen about the shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, to pay the sin debt that we all owe but cannot pay for ourselves. If you have not yet trusted Jesus as your Savior, we encourage you to do so.

Just visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org and watch Dr. Lynch from 7 minute video that will greet you there. If you have already trusted Jesus as your Savior, then we encourage you to develop and strengthen the foundation of your Christian life by spending time reading your Bible and learning with us about God’s Word by listening to Bibleline. We’d like to say thank you to our audio team for their work on today’s program. Until next time, this has been Tom Perry for Bibleline Ministries.

We invite you to join us again for another edition of Bibleline and as Dr. Lynchroom would say, keep looking up. Jesus is coming. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida. 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. you The Bible says grace are we saved through faith and whenever that’s presented in the Bible, guess what? The Bible is very clear to exclude works. Let’s go to Ephesians 2, 8, that I just quoted a moment ago and you’ll see that. It says, 4 by grace are you saved through faith in Jesus Christ. The next Christ says… And so God says we’re saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and then it says, and not of yourself, because that is works and you can’t have grace and works at the same time.

Then it says, it is the gift of God in Ephesians 2.8, and then immediately following the Bible’s excludes works again, and it says not of works, not of works, not of works, lest any man should boast or brag. So whenever you have grace, the Bible excludes works. Isn’t that amazing? And yet it’s amazing to me that how many people just don’t get it. They don’t see it in the Bible. And they slam the Gospel of Jesus Christ by saying that’s easy believism.

And they’re really trying to slam the Gospel and try to slip in the fact that you have to add more to trusting Christ than just trusting Christ. And therefore they add works to the planet of salvation. And guess what? They make the planet of salvation void. And if you add any work, you won’t have any grace. That means you’ll go to hell. So when we talk about believing, we’re not talking about mental assent either. We’re not talking about mental assent to a historical fact.

When we talk about saving faith or belief, we’re talking about a personal trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who gave his life on the cross of Calvary was buried in the Rose again from the dead. The word believe comes from the Greek word vestuo, and it means to trust, to rely upon, to put your confidence into restaurants, wait upon. And when a person puts his trust in Jesus Christ, he is saved. Let me give you my little illustration.

Let’s say if you walk out on a dock and you find there’s a little small boat tied to the dock and you step over from the dock with one foot and put one foot on the little boat. Are you trusting the boat to hold you up? No, you’re not. You still have one foot on the dock. Let’s say that you put both feet on the little boat, but you still are holding on to the piling that supports the dock.

Are you trusting the little boat? No, you’re not. You’re still holding on to the dock. Let’s say that you take both feet and put them on the boat and you take one hand and cut it loose from the dock, but you’re still holding on to the piling with one hand. Are you trusting the little boat? The answer is no. Let’s say you take both feet and both hands off of the dock, but you still have your hands on a rope tied to the dock.

Are you trusting the little boat? No. Not until you cut all the lines. You can all support to the dock. Tell you fully it. RESULTS. your trust on a little boat, you’re not trusting the boat. Unless you cut all ties, the all works and all effort that you might put forth and simply trust Jesus Christ alone, you’ve never really understood what it is to be saved. To be saved, you have to cut all ties totally, completely, trust or rest your way upon Jesus’ commitment for your sin when you do.

saved you. And it might sound like easy believeism, but guess what? That’s the only way you can be saved. It’s hard on God’s part. He made the provision Christ had to die and shed his blood. Our part is easy. We simply receive what Christ did, just like the dying thief on the cross. He what? He simply believed on Christ in the last seconds of his life, and Jesus said, today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. He didn’t say, I’m sorry.

You know you need to unite with the church. And doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. I’m sorry, but you need to be water baptized, and I look like we’re going to be able to pull that one off. And I’m sorry, dying thief. Looks like you can’t make restitution for evil deeds, and you can’t live a changed life. You’re dying, and it looks like you’re headed for hell. No, no, no, no, no. The dying thief was saved because of what Christ did for him, not because of what the dying thief would do for Christ.

And there’s nobody saved any differently than that dying thief. When you place your trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ, God saves you and saves you, be curling. God bless, keep looking up. Jesus is coming, and we believe he’s coming soon. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida. Your regular monthly donations to Bibleline make it possible for this ministry to continue in your area and on the internet. Please contact us today and lend your prayerful and financial support.

Bibleline’s address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Or visit Bibleline Online and BibleLineMinistries.org. Be sure to tune in to another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida.