Bibleline Radio Show – 2009-07-10

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

So cherish me, O God, and pass, Till my trophies and last night, may die. 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. 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 5. Verse 18 says, For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass. By the way, the earth as we know it will pass after the millennium and there will be a new heavens and new earth.

But he says, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall know wise paths from the law. That’s the Old Testament. Tell how much be fulfilled. My Bible says all. Every bit of what the Old Testament said will come to pass. And so it’s saying here all of it will take place literally. Notice it says here one jot or one tittle. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew. Hebrew has 22 characters in the alphabet. The smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet is called a jot.

The smallest marking of a letter in the Hebrew alphabet is called a tittle, the equivalent to the dotting of the eye and that little dot would be the equivalent of the tittle in the Hebrew language. What Jesus is saying is not one small letter or even the smallest marking of a letter in the Old Testament Hebrew will pass from the Bible till all is fulfilled. In other words, he believed in a literal Bible and that every letter apparently and every marking of a letter in the original the original Bible was set down exactly as God would have it.

We don’t have those original autographs anymore, but we believe we have reliable copies of the Bible, and so we have an accurate Bible, but the original Bible, as it was set down, we believe it was set down flawlessly, every letter, every marking of a letter, and then it was all to be fulfilled, every bit of it. So we have a Bible that we’re to take literally, and if God said it, said it, he meant what he said and were to believe what he said.

And that’s what Christ is saying here. So it’s a great couple of verses here about the view of Christ concerning the Old Testament. He’s telling us that it was about him, that he came to fulfill it, and that all of it was set down such that every letter and every marking of a letter would be fulfilled, and nothing would not be fulfilled. Heaven and Earth would pass, and yet not one word of God’s word would be not fulfilled. Verse 19, “‘Whose whomever therefore shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men to do so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, but whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'”

So as we take on God’s word and believe it and practice it and teach others to do so, we become great in God’s eyes. And when we do the opposite and become a stumbling block to somebody concerning God’s word, we become least in his sight. Verse 20, he says, I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. I like this verse.

What Christ is saying here is that we have to be perfect or righteous to go to heaven. The scribes and the Pharisees were guys that got up in the morning and they spent their day deliberately working at being righteous, to follow every rule, to do everything by the book. And they, you know, worked hard at it. And so if you had a Pharisees a neighbor, he’d be a good neighbor, probably keep his lawn mowed. probably keep it trimmed, the hedges and everything trimmed, probably would take out his garbage faithfully and clean up the mess afterward, probably would help you if you had a need and come over and help you.

The Pharisees would be a good neighbor to have, and you know that they wouldn’t steal from you. They’d just be good citizens, good neighbors, and maybe you know some people just like that. And yet Christ said to go to heaven, you’d have to have a righteousness that would exceed that. We difficult to beat that because they worked at it hard. And so what it’s saying here is that you can never be righteous enough to enter heaven apart from the righteousness of Christ which is given to the believer.

I like to tie it to this verse verse 48 because it says, be there for perfect. How perfect? Even as perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. That leaves us all out, doesn’t it? So we’re never going to be that perfect. And that’s That’s why we have to have a Savior. That’s why Jesus came. And He offers His very own righteousness, the righteousness of God, to all those that believe on Him. So when we believe on Christ, when we trust Him as our Savior, a trade was made at the cross.

He took our sin, paid for it in full, and trades and gives us His righteousness. And so God looks down upon the believer and sees us as righteous as God. It’s incredible really to think about that. But that is the position of the believer. So he’s pointing out that we have to be that righteous. The Bible says one lie would be enough to keep you out of heaven because you have to be righteous to enter heaven. Whether it’s sinners death and enter heaven, all of your sins have to be paid for.

And if we tried to pay for even one, we’d have to pay for it in hell. That’s why we need a Savior. Verse 21, You have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill. And here Christ is clarifying what God intended in the Old Testament law and what they had heard and what the truth really was. You have heard, let me tell you what the true story is. You have heard that it was said by them of old time, they also had not killed.

By the way, the Old Testament, the word really means murder. Some people have read this and they are very careful not even to kill an insect or step on an ant. And so they’ve gone a little bit too far. doesn’t say thou shalt not kill. The original means thou shalt not murder. And speaking about taking the life of another human being, if a mosquito lights on you, you can go ahead and kill it. Okay? I do. That’s for sure.

But some of those of that view that you just kind of try to remove it without harming it, without killing it, you have full freedom to take care that mosquito that lights on you. Or those aids that have crawled up. You know the thing about anads is they’ll crawl up your leg and all of a sudden it’s like on command. One of them says, okay, one, two, three, bite and they all bite at one time. Have you ever noticed that?

It’s amazing how they are coordinated like that. They seem to get all over your leg and then all of a sudden on command they all bite simultaneously. And by then you are hurting because they got you. Anyway, you have permission to kill them. Verse 21, do you have heard that it was said by them of old time, they’ll shall not kill and whose servers will kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But here’s what Christ says, more than the actual murder of someone.

The thought is also to commit the crime. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Why? Because if you are angry or hate your brother the Bible says you’ve committed murder with him in your heart. Let’s go over to 1 John, hold your place here. 1 John and some people read this verse and got very frightened. But in 1 John chapter 3, this is page 1323.

1 John chapter 3, page 1323. 1 John 3 15 says, who’s so ever have you found it page 13 23 if you have the school field first John second John third John Jude Revelation first John 3 15 who’s so ever hated his brother is a what there you have it so if you’ve ever hated your brother you have committed murder and then look at the rest of the verse and you know That no murderer have eternal life abiding in him.

Panic, panic, panic, what’s going on here? Well, the truth is, did eternal life doesn’t abide in us? It abides in Christ. And if you look over in 1 John 5, 11, it says, this is the record that God hath given to his eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Verse 12, he that has the Son has life, He that has not the Son of God has not life. So eternal life doesn’t abide in us. If it did, it would be the result of our own righteousness.

But eternal life abides in Christ. And if we have Christ, we have life. And if we don’t have Christ, we don’t have life. Do you follow? So if you’ve hated someone, you’ve actually committed murder, it would be enough to keep you out of heaven, for sure. You know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. So the secret is that eternal life abides in Christ. And if you have Christ, you have life. And if you don’t have Christ, you don’t have life.

And in 1 John 5, 13, it says, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you what? You have eternal life. And you have eternal life because you have Christ. Does it make sense? I hope it does. I hope I can confuse you. Sometimes I look at people’s frowns and I say, man, I’m confusing them. And hopefully we’re getting it clear. But if you have Christ, you have life.

If you’ve ever told a lie, if you’ve ever hated somebody, you’re in danger of being cast into hell forever. But the eternal identity doesn’t abide in us, it divides in Christ. And if you have Christ, then you have His righteousness and you are forgiven and you are a child of God. 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.

Hank Lindstrom’s DVD teachings on the topics of simplicity, belief versus unbelief, and is inviting Jesus into your heart false 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 Welder in Fort Myers, Florida and welcome to Bibleline you are on the air. I don’t know probably I miss in this tool and what a pastor, the person said about the He said this, some of us belong to Jews, people, or the two, or the Old Testament.

Well, let me just clarify that for you. And in Exodus chapter 31, if you have your Bible there, you might want to turn there. But it’s quite clear, if you read your Bible, that this was something that was given to Israel. If you turn back to Exodus 31, it says in verse 12, and the Lord’s back in the Moses saying, Speak thou unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbath you shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you, throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord that does sanctify you.

So it’s clearly here it’s a sign between God and Israel. This was what kept Israel separate from the nations down through the years and kept them unique. Verse 17 says, It is a sign between me and the children of Israel. This is Exodus 31, verse 17. I’m reading from the Bible. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. And we find that this was God giving this to Israel. And when God turned to the Gentiles in this present age, which began at Pentecost, he took the law, which was given to Mount Sinai, nailed it to his cross, took it out of the way, And now the new worship day is established by Christ as Sunday, as that’s the day when he came back from the dead.

And that’s the day when this age began at Pentecost on the first day of the week. And this is the day that we celebrate, which is called the Lord’s Day, not the Sabbath. It’s the Lord’s Day. It’s the day when Christ rose again from the dead. In the book of Colossians says that Christ when he died, in Colossians 2, 14 he blotted out the handwriting of ordinances or laws that was against us, which was contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, and it says the verse 16, let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath.

It says these were all a shadow of things which were to come. So the Sabbath was a foreshadowing. He is the founder of the Millennial Kingdom which is what is coming up next on the program. Christ will come back and conclude the church age at the rapture. There will be seven years of tribulation and then Christ will return and there will be a seventh day called the Day of the Lord a thousand-year day that coincides with the seven days of the recreated week and how there would be six thousand years of human history and then a seven thousand days and we’ve already, if Adam were here, 4,000 years BC till now, that’s 6,000 days or 6 days of a thousand years in length and the seventh thousand years is about to take place and so that’s what we’re talking about.

The Sabbath is not for the believer. The Sabbath is from Friday night sundown to Saturday night sundown. We worship on the resurrection day the first day of the week. And we thank you for that call. We’re now going to go to Dave and plant city. Dave, we’ve had a lot of trouble getting ahold of you, but here you are, Dave. Hello, Dr. Hank. And we had a problem arising at the leave. I just was wondering your opinion if that’s right, that they should do that and I’ll hang up and listen.

Thank you. Well, there’s nothing in the Bible that says you cannot date or marry interracially. And And obviously we are all, every one of us, related back to Adam. I tell people I’m a direct descendant of Noah, as all the world perished in Noah’s flood. And so we’re all related back to Noah. But the Bible does forbid a believer from marrying an unbeliever. Now that’s where the Bible does draw the line. And so obviously if that person was to marry an unbeliever, that would be wrong.

that something to be brought up but otherwise there’s nothing in the Bible about that. So Dave, I think somebody needs to do their homework over there in your church. Thank you so very much. We now have Bernard. Yes. The question I had, sir, was about time in today’s church, how is time because we know how the times were paying in the old church. Okay. So that’s what I want to do, a good explanation of. And I will hang up and listen to your answer.

We are under the New Testament, not under law, but under grace, and the time was a part of the Old Testament law. Now the Bible tells us we don’t give because we’re obligated by the law to give, but we give from the heart as a true expression of our love and gratitude as to what the Lord gave for us. He gave his life for us. So the Bible talks about that giving is a way of expressing our love, it’s a way of expressing our thankfulness and gratitude to the Lord for what He gave to us by giving His life at the cross of Calvary.

And so there are several verses here that I’d like to point out to you. It says in 2 Corinthians 9, and this is grace giving, it says, verse 7, every man according as He purposes in His heart, so let Him give. So notice everybody is obligated to give, but we’re to give as we purpose in our heart. There’s no set amount that is set for us to give under grace. But then it says we’re not to give grudgingly, nor of necessity.

In other words, some churches make you feel that you’re obligated such that you’re grudgingly giving. You say, I don’t want to give, but I’m going to give it anyway. And some because they present this great need and you are giving because of the need, actually God says he loves a cheerful giver. The word cheerful from the Greek is a word that means hilarious. You give from the heart you want to give because you’re so grateful for what God has done.

And then the Bible talks about how that you are going to reap rewards in heaven based upon how you give. So if you sow sparingly, verse 6, you’ll reap sparingly, but if you you so bountifully, you’ll reap bountifully. So this is talking about laying up treasures in heaven. Christ said you can lay up treasures in heaven and thieves won’t break through and steal it. And you’ll have rewards there sitting there for you forever. Earlier in chapter 8, and by the way, 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 are two chapters about giving, it says for you know in verse 9 of chapter 8 the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he He was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty might be rich.

So here talks about the example that Christ gave. He gave his life. And certainly we ought to give to show our thankfulness and gratitude, but it doesn’t have to be 10%. We have a wonderful book in our Resource Center here called Balancing to Christian Life, where Charles Ryrie gives one of the greatest presentations on giving that I’ve read, and he talks there about how you might choose maybe to give 11%, or 10.5%, or 9.5%. But we’re not under the Old Testament law.

It’s up to you to decide how much to give. But he also says and suggests, should we give less under grace than we gave under law? When you were required to give, you would give 10%. Should you give less today now that you don’t have to give it under the command of the law? As you give from the heart, would you want to give less? And I think the answer should be no. We ought to. And by the way, we can give of our time and our talents and our treasures what I call the three teas and whatever time and whatever talent and whatever treasures you give to the Lord God is going to reward you greatly.

I love what it says in Matthew chapter 19, he will give us a 10,000% return on your investment. What do you get now if you put some money in the bank? 1.5% return on your investment in a bank is about zero. But if you were to give money to the Lord, your investment into eternity would be a 10,000 percent return according to the Bible in Matthew 19.28. So we ought to give from the heart, we ought to give because we love the Lord, we ought to give not unto the law.

And it’s something that you purpose or decide how much you’re going to give as the Bible says, depending upon how God has prospered you. And I hope that helps. And thank you for your call. We now have Jean in St. Petersburg. And Jean, welcome to Bibleline you’re on the air. Hi, Dr. Lindstrom. I wanted to know if you could give me one or two verses that I can share with my mother because I believe she’s a believer. She became, say, when she was 18.

She’s in her 60s now, but she was under that teaching and she still believes, you know, that verse about married to the backslider. I keep telling her mom, you know, since I’ve been listening to you, I’ve learned a lot about the Bible and I’ve learned how to interpret the Scriptures better. She still thinks that means that you can lose your salvation. I’m going to hang up and listen to you. Okay. Thank you. You know, I would use some very simple verses.

John 637 is one of my favorites. Jesus says in John 637, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. So once you come to Christ, he says, for no reason or under no circumstances, would he ever cast you out? Some people, you know, are clever and they say, well, okay, he won’t cast me out, but I can cast myself out. Well, that’s not even true. Verse 39 of John 6, John 639, Jesus says, this is the Father’s will that of all of which you have given me, I should lose none.

N-O-N-E, none. But raise them all up against the last day. So not even one person would ever be lost. Now think about it. If one person in all of history were ever lost, then Jesus would be a liar. The Bible would be wrong. And the Bible is very clear that God keeps you saved. So that’s why you can’t be lost. If you’re saved, you’re saved by Christ. And then he not only saves you, but he keeps you saved. And he says, I will not lose one person that has come to me.

So if you once trust the Lord, he’s not going to cast you out and he’s not going to lose you. He keeps you saved. Many, many more verses, but those are a couple of good ones. And I like John 1028 also where Jesus says, I give them to them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. So nobody is going to lose their salvation once they get saved, if they are saved.

You’re saved by simple faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ at the Cross of Calvary. So thank you, Gene, for calling in. 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 our video archives, 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. No doubt about it. The Bible is an incredible book and a book that is truly the Word of God. You know, when you read through the Bible, you finally get that impression as you read through because that’s the claim for itself.

For example, if you go back to the book of Exodus, you’ll find that God throughout is the one that is speaking. And I just opened my Bible here to Exodus chapter 7. It says in verse 8, and the Lord spake unto Moses, say, and if you drop down verse 14 it says, and the Lord said unto Moses Pharaoh’s heart is hardened. And as you read on down you’ll find in chapter 8 verse 1 and the Lord spake unto Moses.

And as you go further down it says in verse 16 and the Lord spake unto Moses. And as you read verse 20 it says, and the Lord spake unto Moses. And it goes on and on from chapter to chapter and it says in chapter 11, for example, and the Lord said in Moses, chapter 12, and the Lord spake unto Moses. And you can go throughout the chapters and find dozens and dozens of times where it says here in these chapters, the Lord spake unto Moses.

And this is what the Lord said, and this is what Moses was to repeat. And guess what? You have that phrase or expression or its equivalent over 2,500 times in the Old Testament. You know, after you read those 39 books of the Old Testament and you read that phrase, thus say, of the Lord or the Lord’s bake over 2500 times, you kind of get the idea. It kind of dawns on you. This is the Word of the Lord. This is God’s Word.

And you find it throughout the prophets, you find it throughout the minor prophets. Almost every minor prophet begins with those words. It says in Jonah, even chapter 1, now the Word of the Lord came unto Jonah. And that’s the way the book began. And Jonah was one of the prophets. Jesus refers to Jonah as one of the prophets in Matthew. It says in Micah chapter 1 verse 1, the word of the Lord that came to Micah. And you’ll see it throughout these books.

And each one usually begins with that opening where it is the Lord that is speaking. And they are simply taking these words and then sharing them with you and me as they command the Lord commanded them to speak. Here’s Zephaniah. It says the word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah. Wow, the Bible is indeed the word of God. Today the Bible is under attack. People are not reading the Bible. It’s a shame because this is the word of God.

If you really believed it was or is the word of God, wouldn’t you want to pay attention and say, hey, I would like to see what God has to say? watch the evening news. They listen to the radio for news. They read their newspapers for news. But if you want the latest news, read the Bible. It is tomorrow’s news today. This book tells the future before it happens. We’re watching so many things happening right now that the Bible spoke about thousands of years ago.

It’s incredible. Sometimes I watch the evening news and I watch it catch up to the Bible and I say, I knew that was going to happen. I knew that was going to happen Because the Bible said it would happen, and we can know with confidence that that is exactly what’s going to take place because the Bible said it. And God is never wrong. God never makes mistakes. This book does not need to be revised, updated or changed. And what we have today is so many people tampering with God’s Word.

Is that a good thing? For the most part, it’s not because they’re changing the meaning. They’re deleting verses from the Scriptures. There are over 2000 deletions in many of these new translations, and the NIV in particular drops 44 verses in their entirety. These are key and important verses. And it’s amazing how that nobody seems to pay attention. But this is significant, especially when the Bible says you’re not to take away from the words of this book. not to add to the words of this book.

And yet they are deleting, subtracting, and changing, and altering when the Word of God, the Bible says, will never change. Jesus said in Matthew 24 35 heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall never pass away. Wow. If you were I made that statement, people would begin the laugh and think maybe they ought to take him off to the funny farm. But you know, Jesus spoke those words and here they are still today thousands of years later recorded for us in the scriptures.

and you can read his words, and the heavens and the earth will pass away. The Bible tells us, but his word will never pass away. We’re going to rejoin the stations that have been on break into the second half hour Bible. And so don’t go away. Would you like to help Bibleline continue in your area? You can. Just pick up your phone and dial 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. And now back to Bibleline. Welcome back from the break. We hope that you’re learning with us as you listen to Bibleline and hear real-life questions with scriptural answers from Dr.

Hank Lindstrom. Please make plans to join us and open your Bible as we also present in-depth studies covering a variety of biblical topics. Now let’s return to our question and answer segment and then you’ll hear more Bible teaching from Dr. Hank Lindstrom. We’re now going to go to Dennis in the land Florida. Dennis, welcome to Welcome to Bibleline, you’re on the air. I’m a regular listener to your program and I respect very much your opinion. But I do have one question I’d like to ask you.

But what is the definition of a cult? A cult basically is a group that denies the basic tenets of Christian. Christianity. So if you deny hell, all the cults deny hell, the seven dead Venice deny hell, the Joe’s Witnesses deny hell, the Mormons deny hell, the Unity Church denies hell, the Christian scientists deny hell. These are all the marks of a cult. They deny usually the Bible being the sole authority of the church. All the cults have extra biblical writings.

For example, the Joe’s Witnesses have the Watchtower Society, the Seven Dead Venice have the writings of Ellen G. White, the Christian scientists have the writings of Mary Baker Eddie and the Mormons have the Book of Mormon and on and on we go. They deny usually the Trinity. The Joe’s witnesses do not believe in the Trinity and on and on we go. So the basic doctrines that you’ll find in the Bible are denied by a group that would be called a cult.

The group is not the Bible. When they deny the basic doctrines of the Bible which are the basic teachings, the fact that there’s a real heaven, there’s a real hell, that Jesus Christ is God who came and took on human flesh, that salvation is not by works, but by faith alone in Christ, that there are other writings that you have to appeal to outside of the Bible, and so on and so on. These are the marks of occult. So occult is a group that denies the basic tenets of Christianity.

So can I. Well some even believe the Catholic Church is a cult because they also believe their writings outside of the Bible or the decisions made by the church itself are equal with scripture and many of those decisions down through the years actually contradict the Bible. So the teaching that you are saved by works basically by keeping the seven sacraments is totally formed in the scripture and the fact that uh… there’s a purgatory there is no purgatory in anybody’s bible and these doctrines they have a whole host of them which they accept and believe because of the decisions made by the church to add these things and so uh…

some have said that that qualifies them as well basically one of the church uh… doesn’t believe in hell they really believe to go to hell you’d have to really really they they teach purgatory is an alternate place where you eventually you wind up going to heaven and to go to hell would be you’d have to actually just beg to get in there. So basically they hold to the Trinity of Christ, the Godhead, the deity of Christ and many other doctrines.

So they generally are not in that category. But there’s some who would like to say they are too because they have some qualities that are like a cult. But it seems to me that the definition of called connotation Because you have main domination, but I’m saying those are also true of many of the there’s so many new cults today that are really Way way out and then of course there is the occult which is into the spirit world and in Satan’s realm where they contact the dead and and other things like that which are really way out so I basically all you have to know is that the Bible is the word of God and if you stay it lined up with the scriptures, you’re going to be just fine.

So I would let that go. Thank you, Dennis, for calling in. We now have Tina in Newport, Richie. Tina, welcome to Vibeline. You’re on the air. Hello. Hi, you’re on the air. Okay. I have a question for first Corinthians 1529 where it says being baptized for the dead. It doesn’t read real well in the English, but the whole chapter is about the resurrection and it’s talking about as time went along, people that were believers were passing on into eternity and then they were baptizing new believers who would obviously in a sense take their place and why would they baptize new believers to take the place of those who died if there were no resurrection for the dead.

It’s not saying that you’ve baptized for dead people but it’s talking about for example every one of us should replace ourselves. If you’re a believer, you’re going to die someday and you need to lead someone else to Christ to take your place. And hopefully when you leave this world, you will have left a number of believers behind to take your place when you pass on into eternity. And here it talks about those new believers being baptized, which every believer ought to be, not to be saved, but ought to be water baptized.

And so it doesn’t read well in the King James, but it’s basically saying why in the world would Christians, the early Christians, win people to Christ and they would be baptized and they would replace and fill up the ranks of those that had been believers who had died. Why would they do that if there were no resurrection of the dead? It doesn’t make any sense. And that’s the point being made there. I see, okay, because someone cannot be baptized with someone else.

Oh, no, not at all. And that’s what it sounds like here. So, that’s what should they do, which are baptized for the dead. That’s what it reads in the King James and it’s unfortunate that that has been misconstrued. The Mormons use that where they have these genealogical records and they go into their temple and they do all these baptisms for dead relatives so that they can vicariously work out salvation for a person who has already died. That’s crazy and that’s not what the Bible is teaching here.

And Schofield has a good help. If you have the Schofield Bible in the margin, it says here, those who through the introductory right of baptism are taking the places in the ranks left vacant by Christians who have already died. And so Schofield says basically what I just said a moment ago. And so a good Schofield Bible, the old Schofield Reference Bible will help you when you come to passages like this. Okay, fine. Thank you. Thank you Tina in Newport, Richie.

And thank you for your call. We now have Trina. And Trina is in Largo, Florida. And Trina, welcome to Bibleline you’re on the air. Good morning, Dr. Lindstrom. I really enjoy listening to you. My question today is suicide. People will commit suicide. Is there anything in the Bible relating to that? Well guess what? Suicide is not the unpardonable sin. And if a believer did commit suicide, they would still go to heaven. Although God doesn’t want you to take your life again go back to the verses that we quoted earlier John 6 37 Jesus said him that comeeth to me I will know wise cast out except he commits suicide No, I added that last part it says him that comeeth to me I will know wise cast out that means there is no reason or no circumstance It could ever cause you to be lost once you become saved

This whole thing about suicide being an unpardonable sin and would cause you to go to hell has come out of Roman of tholicism, they made the mistake of assuming that because Judas went to hell and the last act that he committed before he went to hell was suicide. They assumed that it was the unpardonable sin. They made a big mistake. John 664 tells us why Judas went to hell. He was never a believer. He never trusted Christ. John 664 says, Jesus knew from the beginning.

Who they were that believed not and who should betray him and it talks about Judas. Judas was never a believer in Jesus knew that and Jesus knew that Judas would betray him. And so Judas did not go to hell because he betrayed Christ. He did not go to hell because he committed suicide. Judas went to hell because he never trusted Christ and that’s the only unpardonable sin. Okay, but there’s nothing in the Bible that says anything about suicide. No, not at all really.

And you know basically Saul King Saul committed suicide if you read the end of 1 Samuel. He was wounded and he fell on his own sword and took his own life. And we know from 1 Samuel 28 that the Prophet Samuel said that you’re going to die tomorrow and he said you’re going to be with me. So we know the Prophet Samuel was saved. And so if Samuel said that Saul was going to join him upon his death the next day, obviously Saul was also saved.

So here’s a man to commit suicide he went to heaven. Okay, I was in a discussion with some friends that he’s really depressed and he’s always talking suicide And and I’m trying to find something in the Bible for that so I should quote him Samuel well, I don’t want to encourage your friend to commit so somebody, but if he’s a true believer and You meant that’s what you really need to focus on is does he know Christ does he have the Assurance that if he were to die he would go to heaven because you need to make sure about that because boy It would be a tragedy if he died and didn’t know Christ because he won’t go to heaven Well, I know he believes, but I’m not sure if he’s been a true believer.

You know what I’m saying? He’s just a mess. He’s an alcoholic and in a bad way and he’s been doing this for years. And I talked him on the phone and he’s like he’s crying out. You know, he needs so much help and I just don’t know how to help him myself. I can’t do it. Just tell you a couple of verses that go real slow. John 3 16, John 637, John 639, 1 John 513, some of these verses.

And just go real slow with him. Okay, all right. Thank you so much. You’re welcome. Let me answer this off air question from Fatima in Fort Lauderdale area plantation Florida. She says, can believers pray at home in tongues? Well, first of all, nobody today is speaking in tongues. That’s a question that comes up a lot. But the biblical gift of tongues was to speak in a known foreign language without any training. And if that’s what you mean, there’s nobody doing that.

Now the gibberish that people are doing is certainly not from God. So if they want to do that, they can do it in their home, but it’s not from God and it’s not a secret prayer language. It is a total counterfeit. People in the Mormons do the gibberish. The Buddhist, the people in Islam do it. in every religion around the world, a medium in the satanic seance breaks into this gibberish. That’s the common denominator. That’s not from God. But the real gift, which was a temporary gift that is ceased and is not going to be re-instituted is the gift of a known specific language dialect so that people could be witness to and led to Christ.

Thank you for that question down there, Fatima, in Plantation 4. 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 the books of Jude or Acts, plus many others. Now join us as we return to today’s teaching series. If you turn like the divide on us, it divides in Christ, and if you have Christ, then you have His righteousness and you are forgiven and you are a child of God. And just like the guy I told yesterday, gnashing his teeth would not send him to hell. those in hell would nash your take yes sir it means that now as a believer you need to get it straightened out you know and obviously you would not endanger your salvation and it wouldn’t affect that at all but it does it is a condition that should not you know You should not continue in hatred toward anyone.

And if you do, obviously, then you’re not walking in fellowship with the Lord. You’re not walking in the light that He offers to us or His word. And so it says, If you walk in the light, as he is in the light, then you have fellowship with him. But if you don’t, then you’re walking in darkness. So there is a Christian brother walking in darkness. And so as a believer, we should not hate anyone. And we have to deal with those emotions as they come and forgive them for whatever it is and deal with that situation.

So you’re still a believer, you’re not lost, you will not be cast out or lost once you get saved, you’re saved rather than you’re stuck once you really get saved. But then you have to deal with the conditions related to your Christian life and your walk with the Lord, which would hinder you from fellowship, hinder you from reward, hinder you from having God be close to you and answer your prayers and so on. So I need to deal with all those things in our personal walk after we’re saved.

Back down to verse 22 of Matthew 5, and who so ever shall say to his brother Raka shall be in danger of the counsel, but whose whoever shall say, Thou fool shall be in danger of hellfire?” Well, fool was a pretty strong word, but Raka was a general word. It basically meant if you said Raka about somebody, you’re just saying that they were worthless or empty-headed or just kind of dumb. But fool was a much stronger term. Christ is saying either one.

really sinned against that person by demeaning them, whether you call them Raka, which means worthless or empty-headed or kind of dumb or a fool. And so he says, yes, any of these things. Verse 23, therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and you remember there that thy brother hath awed against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way. First we reconcile to their brother and then come and offer that gift. So basically, it’s somewhat the same I think as 1 John 1 9.

It says, if we as a believer confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So when you sin as a believer, that hinders your walk and your fellowship with the Lord. What are we told to do for Son 1 9? Confess that sin to the Lord and it’s not talking about our salvation now we’re already saved but John includes himself in that we if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves he says in verse 9 if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins the things that we name to him and the cleanses us from all unrighteousness which means he wipes the slate clean as far as our walk is concerned so we ought to practice that daily and actually moment by moment as we sin as we recognize that we have sinned

and word thought or deed, they’d just stop and pause and confess that to the Lord and claim His promise of forgiveness and cleansing. Then we can move on with our Christian walk. Verse 25 says, agree with an adversary quickly. Whilst the Lord in the way with Him, less than any time the adversary delivered to the judge and the judge delivered to the officer and now it would be cast into prison. Fortunately, in our country, we don’t have these rules that infect anymore.

If you owed someone money, they could have you arrested and put in jail and you wouldn’t get out until you paid off the debt. And in England, prior in the early days, as our country was being founded, there were a lot of people over there that were in debtors’ prisons and in other places in Europe. And if you owed somebody a debt, they could throw you in jail. And it was an awful, you know, no win, no win, no win because when you got in jail, how would you pay off the debt?

So you just stayed there and rotted until you died. It was just a terrible, terrible plight to be in. And so Christ is talking about those kind of things we’re practiced in his day. And he says, agree with your adversary quickly while you’re in the way with him. Let’s say any time the adversary delivered to the judge and the judge delivered to the officer and he cast you into prison. Barely I say unto thee that thou shall by no means come out from the prison, tell thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Wow, till you paid off every last dime, you’re not gonna get out of jail. So he says you need to agree. Now the Catholics use this as a proof text for purgatory. They say that if you go to purgatory, you’re not going to be released from purgatory till you work off every last sin. It has been, that’s nonsense. There isn’t such thing as purgatory period. The whole doctrine of purgatory is false. But when you read what the Catholic Church does in defense of its doctrines, it’ll take verses like this out of context and try to use that as a proof text.

There just is no purgatory. But it’s basically saying that you need to settle your cases with everybody that you have a problem with. And if you owe somebody money and it’s coming due and you need to deal with it so that you don’t get yourself in deep trouble. And of course we can get in trouble in other ways today, can’t we? Their fines or penalties or they can take away your car or repossess whatever it is you owe and other griefs that can come against you, leans against you.

Obviously, the Bible is saying, take care of all that so you don’t get into those kinds of problems. Verse 27, you have heard that it was said by them of old time, they also should not commit adultery. That was the law. But Jesus takes it a step further and says, I say unto you, that is, whoever looked at on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. So here he talks about again, you know, the 10th commandment is really the one that deals with our thoughts.

It talks about covetousness and really it talks about how the sins weren’t Only outward but before God if you coveted then you had committed that sin in your heart verse 29 and 30 says if you’re right I offend the you Pluck it out cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of your members should perish and not that your whole body should be cast into hell. If you’re right-hand to fend, cut it off. Cast it from thee.

For it is profitable for thee that one of your members should perish and not that the whole body should be cast into hell. What are the morals that I’m talking about? I’ll tell you my little story. We had a family here in this church. The mom and dad were very wealthy and they had a young son around 20 and he was a young jet setter and the dad came to me and said, my son is about ready to take a trip around the world and I’m worried about him.

I’m worried about his salvation. Would you meet with him? And I said, I’d be happy to. And so he scheduled an appointment with his son to meet with me. The son came with an attitude and when he got to me, he looked at his watch and he says, you’ve got one hour. That’s all I agreed to with my dad. Give it your best shot. Okay. And so we sat down together, I went over the gospel, he understood it clearly, he gave you sight of back, and I asked him if he would trust the Lord, and he said, no, he couldn’t buy in any of that.

So I was a little frustrated, I said, Lord, what will I do? And I said, I said, well, you know, what would it take to convince you that the Bible is true and that Jesus Christ really is the Savior and that you need to trust him? Your dad is very concerned about you and that you would trust the Lord. And he said, I don’t know of anything. I said, well, what if I prayed that something would happen in your life?

Let’s say that when you leave here that you would be in a car accident. Would that convince you? He said, no, anybody can have a car accident. It would just be a coincidence. I said, well, what if we were to pray more specifically? Let’s say we’re going to pray. And if you agree, and this is the only way that you could get saved, I believe you and I agree on this and you allow me to pray the prayer, it’ll probably happen.

So would you agree if we prayed that when you leave here that you would have a car accident and that your left leg would be severed exactly four inches above the knee? Would that convince you? He said that probably would, but please don’t pray that prayer. He asked me not to. Thanks for listening to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom. That wraps up another edition for today. Please be sure to tune in next time as we continue this teaching series.

We’ve enjoyed being with you today and hope that you’re following along with us in your Bible. There is nothing more foundational to the development and strengthening of your Christian life than reading your Bible. Please make an effort to spend time with God through reading your Bible each day and learning and growing in the knowledge of God’s Word through listening to Bibleline. If you missed any part of today’s program or if you’d like to hear Dr. Lindstrom’s entire series on today’s teaching, please call us at 1-800-576-3771 to get a copy for your personal library or if you prefer, 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 that 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. visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org to watch Dr. Lindstrom’s seven-minute video that will greet you there. Thanks to our audio team for their work on today’s program.

Our time is up for today, but we look forward to you being with us again for another edition of Bibleline. Until next time, this has been Tom Perry for Bibleline Ministries, and as Dr. Hank Lindstrom like to say and we know it to be true. 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. The heavens and the earth will pass away. The Bible tells us, but his word will never pass away. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1 verse 25, the Word of God liveth and abideth forever. We need to pay attention.

And Peter in particular in his books says we need to pay close attention. We need to be diligent as we get into the Bible to see what it has to say, especially today when we see people being deceived. You know, 2 Timothy 3, 16 says, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Verse 17 says that the man of God or the woman of God may be truly equipped or completely equipped to do the job that God wants us to do.

If you have the Word of God in your hand, you have the book, the instruction book, the manual, the work manual that God has given to tell us what to do, how to do it, and how we can please God and how we can reach men and women with the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is our mission. The Great Commission is the forgotten mission of the church. What does the Great Commission say? A lot of people don’t even know what it is.

1615 says, go into all the world and preach what? The gospel. Preach the gospel to every creature. Go preach the gospel. This is not being done today. In Hillsborough County, the county where Tampa is has in the Yellow Pages over a thousand churches. There are probably more churches than there are gas stations and yet everybody seems to be able to get gas even though it’s very expensive. But it seems like few people are fighting the gospel. If you go out on the street or in the restaurant and you ask somebody, what do you think you have to do to go to heaven?

They usually don’t know or they’ll give you a wrong answer. What a tragedy with a thousand churches in just this one county. The whole world should know Christ or at least this whole county should know Christ. People are getting gas with less gas stations and there are churches and yet something’s wrong here. They’re not paying attention to the Bible. They’re not paying attention to the Great Commission. Some churches never lead anyone to Christ. And in a evangelistic organization called our church here, they happened to get me as I picked up the phone and they said, do you have anybody in your church that could take the Bible and open it up and lead someone to Christ.

They wanted some volunteers. And I said, yes, we have many like that. They said, oh, thank God. We’ve been striking out as they called over churches. They couldn’t find it. And I said, you’re kidding. And they said, no. In fact, I said, well, tell me, what are you finding? And they said, well, the last church I called. They said, we used to have a person like that. But he moved! Are you believing it? The churches aren’t training anybody to open the Bible up and actually lead us all to Christ.

Every Christian ought to be able to do that. Every Christian ought to be able to talk about Jesus. It ought to be something that becomes natural, because that’s what we all ought to be doing. We all are, according to the Bible, ambassadors for Christ, where to represent Him and tell others about Him. the world should hear about Christ from every believer. And if we were doing our job, we would evangelize the world, but we’re doing a bad job today.

We have fallen away from the Great Commission. And as I often say, it’s the Forgotten Commission. You ask the average church member, what is the purpose of your church? And maybe they can recite off this purpose statement that they recite in their church. But where is the purpose that God has given to us? The Great Commission that Christ left with us to go into all the world and preach the gospel. That’s probably not even in it. And when they try to tell you what the purpose of their church is or why their church exists, it seems like they’re just absolutely ignorant of the fact that every church, if it’s a church established by God, its main commission is to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

No one has ever witnessed to me since I got saved at 18. That scares me to death. I’m telling you. That scares me because it tells me Christians are doing their job. It frightens me to think that I could have gone through my whole life and never heard the gospel from a Christian. In any case we’ve got a run, but we’ll be back tomorrow. So keep looking up. Jesus is coming. We believe soon. God bless and have a great day.

We’ll see you tomorrow here on Bibleline. 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… 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.