Bibleline Radio Show – 2009-07-06

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

So cherish me, O God, and pass, Till my trophies at last I made love. 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 1-800-576-3771.

Great to have you here today. I’m Tom Perry and you’ve tuned in to Bibleline. If you have not yet trusted Jesus, we encourage you to do so. Please, won’t you take a few minutes and 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 invite you to open your Bible and join us for our verse by verse study of the Book of Matthew as we explore topics such as the feeding of 5,000 with five loaves and two fish.

Jesus walking on the water, the first mention of the church by Jesus, and more. Tell your friends and family about Bibleline. If Bibleline is not being broadcast in their area, then ask them to listen via the Internet at BibleLineMinistries.org. Now join us for Dr. Lynchton’s teaching for today as we turn to the Book of Matthew chapter 3.

We’re in the Book of Matthew. We’re talking about chapter 3 and we’re talking about John the Baptist and we are talking about his message and what was he saying. And he was obviously the one that would prepare the way of Christ that would announce Jesus. He is the last of the prophets, the Old Testament prophets. And his message was one of changing your mind and believing on Christ who would come after John and in that way you’d be saved.

I believe last we looked at a verse in John 3 where we quote John the Baptist and no wonder he was a great prophet or a great preacher. In John 3 36 we have a direct quote from John the Baptist and he said he that believeth on the sun has everlasting life. He that believes not the sun shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. So he divides the world into two groups, believers and unbelievers, those that believe are saved, those that don’t believe are lost.

And of course their belief is to trust on Christ as their Savior. So John the Baptist had a very clear message, but because of the redefining of repent or repentance, a lot of people just totally go off in the left field as to what John the Baptist was saying. And they teach that he was teaching them to turn from their sins to be saved. He wasn’t. He was teaching them to trust Christ to be saved. And he told them in verse 2, repent, change your mind.

The kingdom of heaven is at hand. That’s the millennium. The kingdom was here on the earth. The kingdom would have been established and had he been received and so on. So in any case he says here that unless they would receive Christ they would be lost. They were priding themselves and being descendants of Abraham and John said that won’t do because unless you have been born again you are a corrupt tree and every tree, bring forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire.

He’s talking about hell. And so here were religious leaders who are not only not saved themselves, but their converts, their fruit were lost. And you can tell that of any group. That’s, you know, I can’t believe how many people get this wrong every time. But when people read the phrase, you’ll know them by their fruits, they in their mind think it means you’ll know them by their works. That’s not what it’s saying. Their fruit is their converts. And hopefully if you talk to somebody I have taught or have led the Christ, you ask them a couple of good questions you’ll learn hopefully that they’re good fruit that they’re saved and they’re solid in their beliefs but if you talk to a cult member ask them a couple good questions you know the whole organization that they come from is a corrupt tree because they don’t get anything right and so you

examine the fruit that comes to your door when that little fruit comes up and knocks on your door and you check him out you’ll find out that he comes off of a bad tree and so you know that the whole tree is bad and that’s what he’s saying here. If you were sitting under the teachings of the Religious leaders here that he’s talking about in verse 7, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, their converts would have been lost. And after three years of ministry, Jesus condemns them in Matthew 23.

And he says, you Pharisees and scribes, you hypocrites, you’re not only not entering heaven yourself, but you’re preventing those that would enter heaven from going because you’re teaching them the wrong message. And so they didn’t appear to ever get it right. And that was the group that condemned him and took him to the cross, and Jesus was crucified. Now we’re going to verse 11. And here we have three different baptisms all taught in one verse. This is important, I think, to make a note of.

First we have the baptism of John the Baptist. He says, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, which is a change of mind. And of course the baptism was symbolic of the cleansing of the result of the change of mine of trusting Christ as Savior. So that was with water. And then it says, but he that cometh after me, which is Christ, is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

So that’s two more baptisms, neither one of those involve any liquid, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the baptism with fire. Now, Christ is the baptized oar, and depending on whether you’re saved or lost, it’ll depend on which baptism you get from Christ. But the baptism with the Holy Spirit, every believer receives that one. The baptism with fire, every unbeliever receives that. And so if you’re an unbeliever, you’ll be baptized with fire by Christ. What is it? It’s to be cast into hell.

Second Thessalonians, chapter 1 verse 8 says, Christ comes back in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that no not God and have not obeyed the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So Christ comes back in fire. He’ll baptize every lost person with eternal fire in the eternal hell that do not trust Christ as Savior. Watch out for churches that talk about and advertise that they offer the baptism with fire. I believe a lot of them offer it and I believe they can deliver on it.

I would stay far away from them because their message is probably wrong and you’ll probably will experience the baptism of fire if you go there you’ll probably never get saved but there are churches that actually talk about come to our church and receive the baptism of fire and you don’t want to go there just stay away it’s it’s help the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the placing of the believer into the body of Christ and every believer experiences that so everybody in the human race will experience one of the two Christ is the He baptizes the believers with the baptism of the Holy Spirit and places you into his body.

If you’re an unbeliever, he’ll baptize you with fire. 2 Thessalonians 1, 8, and 9 says that Christ comes back in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those that know not the Lord. The context also demands that interpretation. Look at verse 12 Mattis in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gathers wheat into the garner, but he’ll burn up the chafe with unquenchable fire. had the privilege of going to Israel at different seasons of the year and have gone in the summer when they’re harvesting the grain and I’ve seen an exposed rock surface out in the middle of the field which they would call a threshing floor You see family members children husbands wives everybody’s out there for the harvest and they all gather the harvest and they bring it to the Threshing floor and they cast it down Then they have usually an animal walk on the grain which kind of loosens and separates everything out.

And then if there’s a good breeze blowing they will have a man throwing the stuff up in the air and you’ll see it. He pitches it high as he can pitch it. And the wind carries away the unwanted light, chafe, and the heavy grain falls straight down to the floor or to the rock surface and is gathered in this part of the harvest. If there is no wind, then they have some guys that have like a big fan. You see them in church when you have a little thing here, but this is a big one.

And there’s a guy doing this who’s creating a wind while the other guy is throwing the harvest up in the air. And with that wind it blows the unwanted chafe away and that’s the harvest. Now notice what it says here. Christ has the fan in his hands. The Christ will produce his own wind and I believe he can do a good job of it. So Christ will come back when the harvest time comes and he’ll purge his floor thoroughly with the fan that’s in his hand and he’ll gather the wheat which is a picture of the saved into the garner but he will burn up the chafe with what?

Unquenchable fire. I believe that’s the fire of hell that will never be quenched, that will never go out, and those that are lost will be burned up with unquenchable fire. He’s talking about hell. And of course that relates to the baptism of fire, whereas the wheat receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit are the saved. And so here are the saved and the lost which are separated out at the time of the harvest. So here you have it. Verse 12, whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purgest floor and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chafe with unquenchable fire.

So don’t go for the baptism of fire. Watch out for churches that teach it because you don’t even want to go in their doors. I can guarantee you their message has got to be messed up and you don’t want the baptism of fire or with fire. Now let’s go to verse 13. We have another baptism. This one is the fourth baptism in this passage. Isn’t that amazing? Four different baptisms and we’re going to find some more in the book of Matthew.

So you can start listing them. One, two, three, four. You’re listening to Bible Eye, a teaching ministry that’s dedicated to delivering the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many items available from our resource center, such as Dr. Hankel-Instrom’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 when you call 1-800-576-3771. Now we’re going to take a break from our teaching to listen to Dr.

Lindstrom answering questions from callers and then we’ll rejoin today’s teaching. We have John and John is in Houston, Florida. John, welcome to Bibleline You Are On The Earth. Thank you Pastor Hank. Pastor Hank, I know you get a lot of questions concerning. speaking in tongues, but actually all that means is speaking in a language that is understandable. If I was to speak to you in Italian, and you don’t understand Italian, you wouldn’t understand what I’m saying. So actually all it really means is speaking in a known language.

Absolutely. You’re right on target. That’s exactly it. And nobody’s doing that today. Everybody that’s claiming they’re doing tongues today is speaking to gibberish. It’s not understood by anybody not even the one that’s speaking it I spoke to one little old lady and she said that she had the gift of tongues I said do you understand what you’re saying when you speak in your gift of tongues? She says I have no idea She says my little tongue is going so fast and it feels so good, but I have no idea what I’m saying and that’s the counterfeit Yeah, it’s Satan working But also, you know, in Genesis chapter 11, speaks about what happened at the Tower of Babel there, when God came down and confused their language.

And you know, it’s come full circle. You know, everything that happened at Babel has now been reversed. Then there was one rural government, there was one rural religion, there was one universal language and then God scattered them to hinder the decay of the human race as we have seen it take more time because of separate nations have kept that from happening. But today with the internet, with satellites and television and movies and Hollywood, we have the world connected in such a way that we are going back to the dream of a one world government, one world religion and one universal language and apparently English is that universal language.

It’s the universal language of the world wide web. And it’s the universal language for airline pilots. If you fly any type of foreign airline or American airline, you have to speak English or you won’t be able to land. That is required. And it seems like in almost every country now. English is at least studied as a second language. So we’re coming back to the time of the Tower of Babel. And guess what? Babel was in Iraq and we’re back to Iraq and the nations have their eyes focused there in Iraq and on the Middle East and where the oil is.

And so the Bible says when we go back to Iraq, that’s when Jesus is coming again. And I think we’re close. Isn’t that some, you know, I believe we’re living in the last days. Absolutely. Yes. If I send you a note along with an offering, would you be able to get the note? Absolutely. Thank you very much because I enjoy your program and there’s nothing better than Bible questions and answers. Amen. God bless you and keep looking up Jesus is coming.

Amen. Thanks Thanks for that. I needed that. Thank you, John. Well, you know, it’s true. And there is a lack of the answering of questions. I had one lady tell me that she had a Bible question and she asked her pastor, he said, Submit it in writing and give me 8 weeks. She said I didn’t have eight weeks. She called Bibleline and got an answer that very morning and wasn’t that exciting? Well, that’s what we attempt to do. We try to give you an answer from God’s word right now if we can and if we can’t we tell you we can’t we try to do the research and Find the answer for you.

We’re gonna go now to Jerry and Jerry is in plant city and Jerry. Welcome to my bond Sir, Dr. Hank. I just want to get your thoughts on the churches doing small group services now instead of like knowing the traditional Wednesday night services and what is the pros and cons of that going that way and I’ll hang up and listen to the answer. Alright well I don’t know that I have a real problem except that many times these become splinter groups and and and divide the congregation rather bring it together but as we approach the days of higher gas prices and more difficulty about coming out to the church for all the services it might be advantageous.

I know the thing that we have is we have now the webcasting of our service and whenever any of our people cannot come they can go right to the internet and catch our worship service and we’re also of course able to bring that to the whole world to anybody who would go to Bibleline ministries.org or would click on that camera on the home page, they’ll be able to get our worship services for a whole year and watch them as often as they like.

But there’s nothing in the Bible that would say pro or con, but it’s much more difficult to know that each of those groups are doctrinally sound and are teaching the same thing. It’s hard to hold them accountable. So that’s the only problem. But otherwise, there’s nothing pro-recon in the Bible about that. And the early churches bent in homes. They didn’t have any buildings dedicated to their worship services until time went along. Okay, we’re going to try to take another off-air question now.

If I can, we’re going to go to Nancy in Utica, New York. And she says, what happens to the souls of babies that die because their mother aborted them. What about aborted babies? Guess what? Nancy, good news. Good to heaven. That’s right. They all go to heaven. It tells us in 2nd Samuel 12, 23 that David had a child and it was ill for seven days. He prayed for his life and the child died. David said the child will not return to me but all go to be with that child.

Now we know David was saved. David said in the 23rd Psalm that the Lord was his shepherd and he said that he would dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And so he’s saying that the child would not return back to the search to David, but David said, I’m going to go be with that baby one day. So all children that die before the age of accountability, whether it be by natural abortion or by unnatural abortion or the actual slaughter of the fetuses, those babies will be in heaven and we’ll get to see them one day.

I think that’s great news. We now have Joe and Pembroke Pines, and he leaves this off air question. I was reading a Bible comparison pamphlet. It said that the received text came around 1100 AD and the Alexandria text is from 325 AD. Is this valid? Where do these years come from? Well, you know, the manuscripts of the New Testament can be traced right on back to the first century. And that’s the wonderful. We have a wonderful tradition of Bible manuscripts.

And you know, in the fourth century, right? Well, it was actually 316 that Constantine declared the world to be Christian. And he asked for manuscripts and dozens and dozens of manuscripts were produced. And that’s just a little bit after Christianity had begun. And there are those manuscript families that take us right back into the life of the early church fathers. In fact, the early church fathers quoted the New Testament so prolifically that if you didn’t have any manuscripts at all, think about this, if you didn’t have any manuscripts at all.

Just from the quotations of the Bible of the New Testament by the early church fathers, you can reconstruct the entire New Testament except for just 11 verses. What do you think about that? So obviously we’ve got a very, very strong textual background and it takes us all the way back to the writings of the actual apostles which are the original manuscripts. So this doesn’t really matter and what we have is a very good Bible that has been translated very faithfully.

And you have to watch out for some of the modern translations today. One of the problems with those is to get a copyright for their publisher. They have to have 10% change or they won’t get a copyright. So guess what? They get in there and hack and slice and snip and change and they get their 10% change and then they can get their own copyright. right and so they’re more interested in getting a copyright being able to sell the Bible exclusively as theirs than they are about whether they’re giving you a real true rendering of what God actually said in the original manuscripts.

That’s why you have to be alert to that or you’re going to be tricked. Thank you, Joe. Larry in Manson, Michigan says in Genesis 6, 6, it says the Lord repented that he made man. What is the Hebrew meaning of this word? It means to lament or grieve or to sorrow. And the Lord lamented, he grieved and he sorrowed over the fact that man had so severely departed from him that he would have to bring this flood and destroy all life on the planet except for eight people that were saved.

Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives, eight people were believers in the inner of the ark and the rest drowned in that flood. That’s a true story. It really did happen. It’s happening again today. Jesus said it would be again as it was in the days of Noah. Look at the unbelief. Look at the rejection of the truth today. We see ourselves headed far from>>>>the Bible. Larry, that’s what’s happening here. Have you trusted Christ as your Savior?

There’s only one way to be only one way to go to heaven and that is Jesus himself. Jesus said in John 14 6, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. No man, no woman, no child. No one can come to the Father except by Jesus Christ. If you reject Christ, my friend, you have no chance because there’s no No other way. There’s no other way. Peter said it so clearly at x4, 12.

He said, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven. Give it among men whereby we must be saved. Most churches teach works for salvation. It’s sometimes very subtle, but you have to do something to be saved according to most churches when the Bible says, you can do nothing. It’s not of yourself that our best, righteous deeds are filthy rags in the sight of God. Isaiah 64, 6. And you have nothing to offer God.

I have nothing to offer God. You don’t either. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care where you attend or what you do. You don’t have a thing to offer God. The Bible says your best, righteous deeds are filthy rags in the sight of God. You have to come just as you are. You have to simply recognize your need that you’re lost and headed for hell and you need a Savior. Jesus Christ is that one. And when you come to Him by faith, trusting that He made the full payment for your sin was buried and rose again from the dead God saved you.

So most important decision you’ll ever make in your life. I hope you’ve made that decision to trust Christ and Savior. You can do it right now. You can whisper a prayer. You could say something like as follows. I got on the sinner, admit it, we all are. But right now, what I just heard made a lot of sense, and I trust Jesus Christ right now, as the one who died and paid for my sins. Infill on the cross by His death and shed blood was buried and rose again from the dead.

And I trust Jesus Christ right now to save me, to give me the gift of eternal life. the moment you do that, Tom saves. We hope that you’re learning with us as you listen to this question and answer segment featuring Dr. Hank Lindstrom. If you’d like to hear today’s program again, then please visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org. There you’ll be able to replay today’s program in our audio archives as well as access other resources including articles on a variety of topics written by Dr.

Lindstrom. in addition to many 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 Lindstrom. Don’t go away. Bibleline will be back in a moment. To pledge your support for Bibleline, give us a call at 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771.

You know, the Word of God is incredible. In the 22nd Psalm, you have a prophecy of the crucifixion of Christ given a thousand years before Christ was ever here. That’s right. One thousand years before He was ever here. And what is so interesting here? It tells about how in verse 16, they pierced my hands and my feet. Wow! What an amazing, clear prophecy. about Christ being crucified a thousand years before he ever came. Now, no man could have done that.

No man could have figured this out. No man, you know, the Bible just doesn’t make mistakes. And it’s never wrong. It doesn’t contradict itself. And here it says a thousand years before Jesus ever came that he would be crucified on the cross of Calvary. It says his hands and his feet would be pierced. That’s just one of many details. If you jump down to verse 18, it says, they part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture.

Wow! That’s exactly what you see happening a thousand years later. The foot of the cross is the soldiers gambled for the clothing of Jesus Christ. Wow! Here, this wonderful chapter, the 22nd Psalm, tells of the death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ. Even the very words that Jesus spoke on the cross are here in Psalm 22 verse 1, it says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Well, those are the words that Christ uttered on the cross.

And you know what is taking place here? Is Jesus Christ, who is the God-man, fully God, fully man, as a man? He was separated from God and forsaken because of your sin and mind. And what is interesting about this is that death in the Bible always means separation. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God turned his back on Adam, and Adam no longer fellowship with God in the cool of the garden. Wow. Spiritual death took place instantly.

At the moment they ate of that fruit, Adam and Eve died spiritually. Physically they died many years later, as they were cast out of the garden and had children and so on and then died physically. But both were part of the penalty of sin, which was if they had eaten of that fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God says thou shalt surely die. Well both died and they died spiritually first. They were cut off from God, the word death means separation.

They were separated from God and then at the end of their physical life they were separated from their bodies at death when your soul and spirit leave your body. That’s physical death. But when we enter into this world, we’re born spiritually dead. But there are two deaths that are to be paid to pay for our sin that Christ on the cross experienced in the save order spiritual death as he was separated from God the Father as God forsook him.

He cries out on the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? We know the answer. He was paying for your sin and mine. And so here God separated himself from the man Jesus and Christ experienced spiritual death or separation. And then a little bit later he yields up his spirit and dies physically. So just as Adam died spiritually, then physically Christ died spiritually and physically the man Jesus died on the cross. You know, God didn’t die.

the man died, the human that was to be our substitute sacrifice, the sinless lamb of God died to pay for your sins and mind. And the 22nd Psalm has it. What is so amazing is a 23rd Psalm which is such a favor to so many people is David’s own personal testimony where he says, the Lord is my shepherd. David, King David, the prophet David, the psalmist David It wrote about how Christ would be crucified a thousand years before it ever takes place, giving us the very details of the words and what was taking place on the cross and gives us the death of the burial and resurrection of Christ in the Old Testament.

A thousand years before Christ ever comes, and then David tells his personal testimony, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. David was saved because he trusted in the good shepherd that gave his life for the sheep. And as a result he said in the sixth verse of Psalm 23, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will, and I will, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

David knew he was saved. David knew he was going to heaven. David knew he would dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever and ever and ever. Wow. Anyway, we are going to go back into the second half hour Bibleline. So 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. line, and hear real-life questions with scriptural answers from Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Please make plans to join us and open your Bible as we also present in-depth studies covering a variety of biblical topics. Now let’s return to our question and answer segment and then you’ll hear more Bible teaching from Dr.

Hank Lindstrom. We now have Diane and Palm Harbor, Florida, and she says in Revelation 12, 7 through 9, It says there was war in heaven and Satan was cast out into the earth. He didn’t ascend to heaven. As you said on the radio yesterday, I’m confused. Well, no wonder, Diane, you haven’t read very carefully. This war hasn’t happened yet. In Revelation 12, it happens three and a half years into the tribulation period or three and a half years after the rapture.

So once I leave at the rapture and if you’re a believer and you leave at the rapture, three and a half years later, this war will take place. In the word heaven there, there are three different words in the Greek for heaven. And this is the atmospheric heaven around the earth. Right now Satan is called according to Ephesians 2-2, the prince of the power of the earth. He controls not only the earth but also the atmosphere around the earth.

And in the middle of the tribulation period, Satan loses control of the atmosphere around the earth. And he’s cast down out of the atmosphere around the earth to the earth and now he is limited in his activities. I believe that’s why Jesus at the Rapture comes down into the atmosphere and then calls us up to meet him in the air. That’s because we’re going through Satan’s territory. Jesus is going to give all of us as believers safe escort through Satan’s territory when we’re caught up at the event of the Rapture.

But if you are in modern day warfare and you’re aware of what they do, the first thing you what to do is control the airspace. We know that Israel in the six day war, just in the first few hours, took out the air forces of all the enemies. And so they control the airspace. And that was really why they could win the war in just six days. And of course, any war that happens nowadays, that’s the first thing we want to do.

And that first Gulf War, we came right in and took Saddam Hussein’s airplanes and just took him and destroyed around the run away than ever. You’ve got a plane in the air. And so that’s the first thing you want to do. And then you just come in and you can blast them from the air and take them from the ground. Well, guess what? Jesus is going to come back and rule the earth. And the seven years of tribulation are really the way how that will be prepared for him to come back.

And the first thing he does, he takes out the airspace. Michael and his angels fight against Satan and his angels and they lose control of the atmosphere around the earth. And then Satan knows he only has three and a half years left. He turns against Israel, read the context. This hasn’t happened yet. Israel then will be fleeing from the Antichrist. They’ll go to a place where God has already prepared for them to survive. It’s the Rock City of Petra in Southern Jordan and their God, it says, will feed them in this place where he will nourish them for the last three and a half years.

And then Christ comes back and rules and reigns. So, you are confused because you’re mixing up the passage in Revelation 12 with the judgment of Satan that took place back there in Genesis 1, 2. Satan lived on the original earth, was actually judged here on the planet and it remains judged and will ultimately go to hell, but he controls the earth and he’s still called the God of this world from that ancient time. But he’s the prince of the power of the air and he’ll lose control of the air, the atmosphere around the earth in the middle of the tribulation.

Diana hope that helps and go back and read the context of Revelation 12. It hasn’t happened yet. This is something future. We have done in New York calls in with this offer question. Please explain turning away from God. Recrucifying Christ. I think you’re probably referring to Hebrews chapter 6 where it talks about those who fall away from God. That if they go back and try to become saved again, that they are re-crucifying him and putting him to an open shame.

Once you become saved, the one time sacrifice that Christ made was sufficient to save you eternally. And so you don’t have to go back and try to become saved again, which would mean you would be crucifying Christ again, which means you put him to an open shame. because it’s very clear in Hebrews 10-10 that that one sacrifice of Christ that Calvary was sufficient to take care of all sins for all people for all time and you don’t need another sacrifice.

In fact in Hebrews 10-14 it says by one sacrifice Christ has perfected forever those that are sanctified. We have Allen in Troy, New York, and he calls in and leaves this offer a question. He says, please explain the parable of the fig tree in Matthew 24. Well, the fig tree is of course talking about the nation Israel. In Matthew 21 it talks about Christ cursing the fig tree on the morning after he had come down the slopes of the Mount of Olives on Palm Sunday.

And it was because Israel had no fruit. Spiritually they were dead they rejected the Messiah that had come and so he cursed the fig tree It says let no fruit grow on thee for an age and so there will be a whole period of time During which Israel would be Spiritually out of God’s favor and that’s exactly what’s happened Israel has been scattered among the nations and for 2000 years have not been in their homeland and Now according to Matthew 24 the fig tree is beginning to blossom and but again they’re back in their land and the Bible says that generation would not pass away until Jesus would return.

Here’s an interesting thought Israel is right now this month celebrating 60 years since they became a nation again after 2000 years and of course they became a nation in 1948. Now they’ve already celebrated this year this month 60 years of being a nation. Now if you take the length of a generation according Matthew, excuse me, Psalm chapter 90 verse 10, it’s 70 years. So if you had 70 years to 1948, we’ve got 10 more years, it would take us to the Second Coming.

If you subtract seven years for the tribulation period, it might mean that we’ve got only three years left, three years left. And maybe less. I mean, we really don’t know, but it’s pretty close, I think, to the time when Christ is going to return. I’m not a date setter. I didn’t say he’s coming back in three years. So for your information though, we’ve got to be close. Israel’s back in the land and that generation that would go back and become a nation again would not pass away till Christ would return.

We have PJ in Dunedin, Florida, and she writes in with this question, what does the New Testament say about Tithing and how much should I give? Well, the New Testament doesn’t say anything about tithing because it is the Old Testament law. Now you’ll find some references in the Gospels, but once Pentecost came, we are now in the Age of Grace and the Old Testament giving unto the law is now done away with. So what do we give? Well, let me give you a great reference.

It says in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 in verse 7, every man, according as he purposed it in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly, nor of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. So basically, you need to purpose in your heart. The more you give, the more you’re investing, and the more return you’re going to have one day in heaven. And you can choose to give 10% if you want to. That is the time. You can choose to give 9%.

You can choose to get 11%. Or as I mentioned, I think yesterday on the year, Mr. Armor of Armor meat gave 90%. He kept only 10% for himself. Of course, he did quite well on that 10%. He was a wealthy man, but we’re not restricted to a certain amount. And we can give from the heart as an expression of our love to the Lord. Read 2 Corinthians 9 And verse seven is the verse I just gave you. We’re not going to go to Rose and Lakeland, Florida and Rose welcome to Bibleline you’re on the air Hello faster hi Yes, I am not have a question.

I was just reading in Samuel first Samuel in the 20 I guess it’s a 20 those chapters versus 14 about small about about you So asking how to have a Samuel resurrected. Now I thought that a Christian, the spirit is gone with… This is Samuel. All the believers in the Old Testament, including Samuel, went into the heart of the earth into what is called paradise. And there they awaited Christ to down the cross of Calvary when he emptied out paradise and took it all up to heaven.

And so here the witch of Indoor calls up Samuel and he comes right out of the heart of the earth. Witch of Indoor had never seen that happen before this was a rare exception and she freaks out she starts screaming buddy murder and of course Saul Recognizes Samuel and Samuel talks to Saul and said look Tomorrow you’re gonna die and you’re gonna join me that tells us that Saul was saved Because he would die in battle the next day against the Philistines and that Saul would join Samuel who’s clearly saved the prophet of God in in Paradise in the heart of the earth.

And so that’s where Saul went the next day, along with his two sons, as all three of them were killed in the battle against the Philistines the next day. So the soul does not sleep. The soul is awake. Now the body is spoken of his sleep until the resurrection, but upon death, if you read Luke 16, beginning in verse 19 to the end, there are two men that die and they’re very conscious after death. The one is in Flamin’ Torment, in the heart of the earth.

The others in a place of comfort in paradise in the heart of the earth, and they have conscious memory. They’re able to converse. They know exactly what’s going on around them. And that’s what happened here with Samuel as well. And he was caught back up to talk to Saul and telling him how he’s going to join Samuel in the next day in paradise. Well, I’ve always heard that when a Christian dies, he’s present with the Lord immediately. That’s true now this side of the cross and the Old Testament that was not true.

If you were in the Old Testament age because sin had not yet been paid for, you were absent from the body and present in paradise as a believer. Just like the dying thief on the cross, Jesus said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. And he also had said he would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. But on the third day, Christ took paradise out of the heart of the earth, removed it to in the heaven now, this side of the cross, when we die, we’re absent in the body, present with the Lord.

Thank you so much for tuning it up. Have a good day. You too, now Rose. Thank you so much for calling in. That concludes today’s question and answer segment. There’s no other topic that is more important to us than the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it was Dr. Hank Lindstrom’s mission to spread the gospel. Through your support for Bibleline, you too can help to spread the gospel of Christ throughout the world and to reach others with the message of salvation through Jesus.

Visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org for copies of any of our resources such as Dr. Lindstrom’s audio CDs on How Permanent Is Your Salvation? Plus many others. Now join us as we return to today’s teaching series. Now let’s go to verse 13. We have another baptism. This one is the fourth baptism in this passage. Isn’t that amazing? four different baptisms, and we’re going to find some more in the Book of Matthew. So you can start listing them. One, two, three, four.

Baptism number one mentioned in Matthew, John the Baptist baptism with water. Baptism number two mentioned in Matthew, the baptism of believers with the Holy Spirit, the baptism number three mentioned in Matthew, the baptism of unbelievers in hell, the baptism with fire. The fourth baptism mentioned in the Book of Matthew, what is it? Beginning in verse 13 through 17 is the baptism of Jesus himself. 13. Then come with Jesus from Galilee to Jordan and to John to be baptized of Him.

But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of He. And comeest thou to me? So John said, wow, I need you to baptize me, not me baptized you. And verse 15, Jesus answering said unto Him, suffer or allow it to be so now, for thus it become of us to fulfill all righteousness, he allowed him. I remember for many years wondering to myself, why was Christ baptized? Why was Christ baptized? I knew what it said here, but I didn’t really know.

But if you read in the Old Testament, when a priest became 30 years of age, he was baptized. And it was a consecration of that priest for ministry. And how old was Christ when he comes here to be baptized of John, he was 30 years of age. And so Christ is King, Christ is a prophet, and He is our High Priest. And so Jesus as a priest now begins his priestly duties and he is baptized, which marks the beginning of his priestly ministry.

So he’s following the Old Testament type. Isn’t that what he’s saying to John? Suffer or allow it to be so now? For thus it become of us to fulfill all righteousness. So he was fulfilling the Old Testament type that was given in the Old Testament, just like we talk about the feast days and how they pictured things. All of these things were foreshadowing of things that would happen in the future. And the Old Testament priest was a foreshadowing of Christ being our high priest.

And of course Christ is greater than the Old Testament priest. And as you studied the book of Hebrews, it contrasts the Old Testament things. And says Christ is greater, Christ is better, Christ is obviously God and the human flesh. So Jesus was baptized. Then it was a total immersion and it only occurred once and it’s not to be repeated. I also believe that when we’re baptized, it really is like a consecration of us. We give testimony to our faith, and now we are as believers priests.

Did you know that you’re a priest? Everyone in this room is a priest, as Christ has made his priest unto God. And that means that we are authorized by God to be able to share the information we learned from God’s Word with someone else. On a couple of occasions I’ve had somebody say, I need a priest. I’m one and hey, I stepped right up and led him to Christ. So we can honestly say we are as a believer and I just moved right in and said I am one.

I’m not a Roman Catholic priest and I’m not a priest of some other faith but I am a priest for God and every believer is. So you can say that you are a priest and you can minister the things of God. you would share the gospel, which is our main duty as a believer. So we find here in verse 16, and Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straight way out of the water. And obviously he had been totally immersed, and here he comes up out of the water, and lo the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him.

And lo a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. your camera out and get ready to take a picture. Here you have Christ, the second member of the Godhead, being baptized and coming up out of the water. Then you have heaven opened and you have God the Father saying, this is my beloved Son and whom I am well pleased. And then you have the Holy Spirit descending on Christ, who anoints Christ for his earthly ministry.

Take a picture and you have the whole Godhead here in this scene, don’t you? All three members of the Godhead are involved. And hopefully you get a picture that sticks in your mind of the Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all in this one event, all happening here at one time. Christ coming up out of the water, the voice coming out of heaven, the Holy Spirit coming down upon Christ, all three members of the Godhead right here.

Obviously the cults deny the Godhead and the fact that God is a triune being. And yet the Bible very clearly teaches it, and here you see it right as it begins. And so Jesus did no ministry, did no miracles prior to this. So there is nothing much to say about Christ prior to this point. And we only really have one incident outside of his childhood that’s recorded when he was 12 years old and was left behind there as he was discussing things from the Bible with the religious leaders, but otherwise the Bible is somewhat silent.

And the reason why is because his ministry didn’t really begin until he was baptized. And that’s when it began. And he did no miracles. If you read the false books that are out there that you have, you know, you go to Walden’s bookstore, borders, or Barnes and Noble, you can see books called the Lost Books of the Bible. And you’ll read one called the infancy of Jesus. And it talks about all the miracles that Jesus did as a little boy.

And when he played with the other boys out there in the mud puddle and they were fashioning little things, he would fashion little birds and blow life into them and they would just fly them off. All kinds of little stories like that. But I want you to look at this. In John’s Gospel, I want you to know you can reject all that because the Bible is very clear that Jesus did no miracles prior to his baptism and prior to the first miracle that he did at the wedding of Kaina.

Please notice when he went to the wedding at Kaina, it says in verse 11 of John 2, The The beginning of miracles did Jesus in Kina of Galilee and manifested forth His glory. And his disciples believed on him. Please notice verse 11. This was the beginning of Jesus doing miracles. The first miracle that he did was at Kana at the wedding. And he did no miracles in his infancy, none in his childhood. Just tossed that all out. You know, the devil would love to have you get off on a rabbit trail that’ll take you away from the scriptures and to read things that are not scripture.

And you’ll race off to the bookstore and buy those books and read all that nonsense. sense. I’ve read it. It is purely nonsense. If you read the infancy of Jesus, which is purported to tell the story of the early years of Christ, it tells one incident when Jesus playing with the boys in the neighborhood got in a little scrap with a neighborhood boy and got mad at him and cursed him. And the little boy withered up and the parents got real upset and they grabbed their withered son and they dragged him over to Mary Joseph and say, look at what your son did to our son.

And I want you to get your son to straighten this mess out and restore our son. When you read that, you know it’s not the scripture. It’s the difference between Shakespeare and Bugs Bunny. I mean, really, come on. There is no comparison between the Bible and this other nonsense that just purported to be God’s Word. So I just want to give you a warning before people will bend your ears. You don’t have all the Bible. There’s parts of the Bible over here at Walden’s bookstore, or Barnes and Noble, or Borders, and you need to go over there and get the rest of the story.

I can warn you, you can get it, but when you read it, if you’re honest, you realize this doesn’t even begin to compare to the Word of God. It’s on such a lower level, and obviously that didn’t happen. No miracles till the wedding of Canaan. No miracles till after his baptize. His ministry did not begin until the baptism here with John the Baptist. And so that’s important to know. It’s the landmark point. And now we move on. So we go from the wise men coming now quickly over through the life of John the Baptist, which is quickly covered here as he introduces Christ.

And now we have Jesus on the scene. He’s now baptized. And we’re going to see John passing off the scene because he’s done. His job is now done. He’s introduced Christ. He’s baptized in Christ is now began as ministry. John the Baptist moves off the scene and Christ moves on the scene. Chapter 4. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Sometimes we don’t read the Scriptures very closely, but I read this verse, I don’t know for how many years, until I realized that how literal this was when we talk about geography.

Thanks for listening to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom. We’d like to continue with Dr. Lindstrom’s teaching, but we are out of time for today. We hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s program and that you are learning from it. If you missed any part of today’s program or if you’d like to hear it again, please visit our website at bibelineministries.org, where you can either listen to today’s program again or if you prefer, you can get the entire teaching series through our online store.

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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. Lindstrom would say, keep looking up. Jesus is coming. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida. Your regular monthly donations to Bibleline make it possible for this ministry to continue in your area and on the Internet. Please contact us today and lend your prayerful and financial support. Bibleline’s address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Or visit Bibleline Online and BibleLineMinistries.org.

Be sure to tune in to another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. David was saved because he trusted in the good shepherd that gave his life for the sheep. And as a result, he said in the sixth verse of Psalm 23, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will, and I will, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. David knew he was saved. David knew he was going to heaven.

David knew he would dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever and ever and ever. Wow. And so that’s why it’s such a favorite. people would love to have the assurance that David had, but don’t. But you can have it by trusting Jesus Christ as the good shepherd that died for you as well. Jesus died not only for David, but he died for you and for me and for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2, 2, says he is the propitiation, boy, that’s a fancy word, but it means a satisfying sacrifice.

It says, He Christ is the satisfying sacrifice, the propitiation for our sins. And it says that not for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world. Jesus died for everybody. He died for you. He paid your sin dead at the cross. He was buried. He rose again from the dead. When you trust that He died in your place, you as David can say, the Lord is my shepherd. It’s personal. You could personally trust Jesus Christ as your Savior.

And guess what? received the gift of everlasting life, and guess what? And you could be assured that you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The 24th Psalm talks about Jesus’ Second Coming when He rules and reigns on this earth as the King of Glory. Wow! The 22nd Psalm, the 23rd Psalm, the 24th Psalm, all good together. The one speaks of His death, the other speaks of His present ministry to us who are believers And the next chapter, the 24th chapter of Psalms tells us about his future ruling and reigning on this earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

We’re getting close. Wow, are we getting close? The oil in the Middle East, the price is going up, the nations are looking at that oil. And guess what? This is the trigger. This is the trigger. God said, I’ll put hooks in the jaws of the nations to draw them into the Middle East. price of oil is getting everybody to think about the Middle East. And guess what? The Bible says it will be taken over by the West. And we’re about to see these things transpire.

We are living in the last days. The Middle East is going to be the place where war will take place and ultimately the Battle of Armageddon. The Mother of all battles, the battle that will take the life of one-third of all the people on the planet Earth. Can you imagine 9-11 killed 3,000, some maybe 3,500? But the battle of Armageddon will kill one-third of the 6.5 billion people we have on the Earth. That means over two billion people will die.

And if the rapture were to happen today, that would happen seven years from right now, seven years away from two billion people dying. Boy, I’m glad I know the answer to life after death. I’m glad I’m in the group that will be raptured out and not go through that terrible tribulation period. I will not be here at Armageddon. I’m leaving at the rapture. And you can be assured of the only not to God has promised that all that would believe or trust on Jesus Christ as Savior would receive the wonderful gift of everlasting life.

I hope you’ve received it. I hope you’ve trusted Christ as your Savior. And I hope that you have gotten the assurance from God’s Word that says you can know that you have eternal life. First John 5, 13, these things have been written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. You can actually know that you have it. Gotta run, keep looking up. Jesus is coming. Keep your eyes focused on the Lord and serve him and share this good news Good gospel with your family and friends and I hope God will bless you richly and I’m not trying to think of Bible Be back tomorrow 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.