Bibleline Radio Show – 2009-10-21
Transcription:
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. It’s great to have you with us here today. I’m Tom Perry and you’ve tuned in to Bibleline, where you’ll hear a combination of teachings from the Word of God and real-life questions with answers taken straight from the Bible.
Bibleline is a continuation of Dr. Hank Lindstrom’s ministry of spreading the good news of salvation throughout the world, salvation by simply trusting Jesus Christ alone as your Savior. We hope that you will open your Bible and join us for our verse by verse walk through the book of John as we study topics such as the resurrection of Jesus, Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene and the disciples, why John’s Gospel was written, and more. Please ask your friends and family to listen to Bibleline on this radio station or on the the internet at BibleLineMinistries.org.
Join us for Dr. Lindstrom’s teaching for today as we turn to the book of John chapter 10. All right, but it says here verse 39, therefore they sought again to take him, but what? He escaped out of their hand. He walked right through the crowd or whatever happened. It happened again and again and again numerous times. They tried to take his life. If you just underscore them all and maybe count them up, You’ll find almost every story. You find they wanted to kill him.
Why would they kill him? Had he done anything wrong? No. He only did good. He brought sight to the blind. He even had the impotent men walking and leaping. And yet they wanted to kill him. Well, verse 40, and went away again, beyond Jordan, into the place where John at first baptized. And there he abodes. So now Christ goes down to this area in the Jordan, which is below Silo. If I haven’t mentioned that before, the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea where John baptized is around 1200 feet below Silo, the actual surface of the Dead Sea is 1300 feet below Silo.
It’s actually the lowest spot on the face of the earth. Absolutely amazing. The Jordan Valley is a rift that begins in North Africa and flows all the way from Israel all the way down to Africa and begins up at the northern Israel. The Sea of Galilee is 700 feet below sea level and then it continues to drop down where the Dead Sea is 1300 feet below sea level and it stops there. But the rift goes right on down and a part of that is the Gulf of Akaba and it goes all we down to northern Africa.
But it’s a geologic fault that exists. So we find here that Jesus abode there where John had baptized. And many resorted in to him and said, John did no miracle. You might want to mark that down because John didn’t do miracles. Christ did miracles. John announced the one who would come and do miracles. And when John had his doubts, Jesus said, tell him what I’ve been doing. You know, he heard the reports. He He just needed to be reminded that this was truly the Messiah.
So that many resorted unto Christ and said, John did no miracle, but all things that John spoke of this man were true. All the things that John said to Messiah would do, he did, he was indeed the Messiah. Look at verse 42, a great verse, many what? Believe if you’re marking it, many believe. That’s how you get saved. Of course, the Greek word means trust. The English word can mean mental ascent, but the keyword is trust. When you hear me read Scripture all oftentimes, throw in the word trust because I think it’s important because this is a problem.
What we find happening is witnesses for Christ. When you go up to somebody and ask them, do you believe in Jesus, they’ll say yes. But he asked him, have you trusted Christ as the only way to get to heaven they’ll say no. You can ask any Jehovah’s Witness you want. Do you believe in Jesus Christ? They’re all going to say yes, absolutely we do. Of course. And then you say well maybe they’re saved. No. Because you haven’t asked the right question.
You have to ask them, have you trusted Christ? Well every time they say no. You will not get a Jehovah’s Witness to say they trust Christ to get them to heaven. They’ll say they believe in Christ, but they won’t say they trust him Guess what same thing with the Roman Catholic. Yes, go right Roman Catholic. Do you believe in Jesus Christ? They’ll all say yes, of course What do you think? What do you think of course? I believe in Jesus, you know, but if you ask a Roman Catholic Are you trusting?
Jesus as your Savior the only means by which you’re gonna get to heaven. They’ll say no every time Why because they’re trusting the church to get them to heaven and they’re not trusting Christ to get them to heaven They believe in Jesus, but they don’t trust him. They trust the church and the sacraments to get him to heaven. Not Jesus. You’ve got to ask the right question. And of course, the Greek word pustuo, p-i-s-t-e-u-o, means trust to rely upon, to put your confidence and to rest your weight upon.
Unfortunately, the translators translated it to the English word believe, which can mean mental ascent and that causes us to really not be able to put our finger on some people. And I’m guilty for a number of years. I would ask somebody, do you believe in Jesus? And they would say yes. And I was like, I wonder if they’re saying. And they didn’t seem to say the right things about they were being saved, but they said they believed in Jesus.
And I realized, wow, I’m using the wrong word here. I need to ask them, do you trust Christ? That really has helped because when you try that you will know for sure because you will not get a Jehovah’s Witness or Roman Catholic to say they trust Jesus to get him to heaven because they don’t and That’s the way you find out whether they’re saved or not Really the Greek word is trusted on him. So they trusted on and that’s what I think you need to Recognize when you see that word again.
It occurs over a hundred times in the gospel of John on this was a wonderful word from the Greek, but unfortunately in English it wasn’t translated the best way it could have been. The Old Testament, the translators, used the word trust all the way through. I wish they had done that and carried that through. I think they were trying for diversity and they used the word trust throughout the Old Testament, but they slip over to the New Testament and start using the word believe.
Maybe the devil had something to do with that. But you know, like the second Psalms says, blessed are all they that put their trust in the Son of God, in the Son. The trust is the key word throughout the Old Testament and is the word used. Chapter 11, a certain man was sick named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. The Mount of Olives, which is to the east of Jerusalem, on the eastern slope near the top is the city of Bethany.
And Jesus would oftentimes stay there, lodge with them, eat there, and so on. Then he would cross over the top of the Mount of Olives and come down the ancient Roman Road and wind up right there facing the temple, go through the Kidron Valley, crossing the Brook Kidron ascending and going through the Eastern Gate. It’s walled up today like the prophecy said it would be, but it was open then and you go into the temple and how the temple and so on.
So he is now in this chapter going to raise Lazarus from the dead if we already know the ending of the story. But it says, a certain man was sick named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. And it was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his sisters, Mary and Martha, sent unto Christ, saying, Lord, behold, whom thou lovest is sick.
Jesus really did care a great deal about Lazarus. And here they said, the one that you love Jesus is sick. In Jesus’ hearnet he said, the sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of Man might be glorified thereby. This is another evidencegradient Jesus Christ is God because here he raises the dead. You might remember John 1 14, it says the word was made flesh. And we beheld him. And it says there that we beheld the glory of the only we got into the Father full of grace and truth.
So throughout this book John is showing how Christ did things that showed Christ’s deity. And they saw what God could do in the human body. And this was for the glory of God. That the Son of Man, or God rather might be glorified thereby. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister Anne Lazarus. When he had heard, therefore, that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. So he parked right there and didn’t go anywhere.
He delayed. Why? Well, we believe on purpose. But notice what’s happening here. And after that, he said to his disciples, let’s go into Judea again. disciples and they mastered. The Jews of late sought the stonley and goest thou fither again. So he was away from that place. They wanted to kill him time and time again. And of course, his disciples are worried for his safety as they had tried numerous times to stoning. And you’re going to go back there.
Jesus answered and said, are there not 12 hours in the day? Now, here again we have a daylight period to find for us, and the daylight period is twelve hours, the night period is twelve hours, and I believe in Matthew 12.41 Christ said he would be three days and three nights. He’s talking about clearly a 72-hour period. There were three day periods and three night periods, and that’s a full 72 hours that Christ would be in the grave. And here’s the verse that defines the length of the daylight period.
back in Genesis, it began that way where it says the evening and the morning where the first day, the dark period of twelve hours and then the light period of twelve hours constituted one day, the length of time it takes the earth to rotate once around on its axis was the length of the day. And some people say, well, those days in Genesis 24 hours, absolutely. If anything, they were a little bit shorter. Why? Because if anything, the earth slowed down, that speed it up.
So let’s say spokeswoman 23 hours, 59 minutes and 21 seconds and maybe it slowed down another 39 seconds or so and now it’s just 24 hours. But that’s the time it takes the term on the saxes. If anything, they would have been shorter than 24 hours, not longer is what I’m trying to say here. So obviously they weren’t longer days. People are trying to get these long geologic ages out of this, but they’re clearly defined as a period of darkness and a period of light.
That’s the way the Jewish people to this very hour count time, the night period first, the day period following. They do from sundown to sundown. The night is first, then the day period is second. Ours are not twelve hours in the day. If any man walk in the day, he stumble, it’s not because he sees the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night he stumbled because there is no light in him and of course he’s talking spiritually that without Christ who is the light you will stumble and perhaps wind up in eternity in hell.
These and after that he saith unto them our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may They awake him out of sleep. 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 Saved by Grace and the Righteous versus the Unrighteous. 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. Well, we’re going to go to our phone lines. I’m Dr. Lindstrom. This is ByBlind and we are glad that you’re listening and are tuned into ByBlind today. We’re living in an exciting time. I tell you, as we watch the headlines and you see the price of oil going up, the whole world is being drawn into the Middle East because of the oil. And that’s exactly what the Bible described would happen as we approach the Lord’s return and God would judge the nations in the Middle East and then establish this kingdom where Christ would rule over the earth as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Wow. Well, we have Joyce, I think, back at the line, Joyce. Sorry. Okay. Can you hear me? I sure do. Okay. Hi, Dr. Hank. I just have a question. Could you explain the parable of the sower? I know the first one is, I believe, unsaved and the fourth one is saved, but the two in the middle, I wasn’t sure about. Because one is talking about that it’s sprang. They received it with joy and it sprang up, but there was no woot.
Right. I think. The first one is the only one that’s unsaved. They’re the seeds sewn by the waysign. But the seeds sewn among the thorns and the seed sewn among stony ground are Christians that just don’t produce any fruit. They get saved and that’s about all that happens. The cares of this world and the lust of riches and the desires of this world prevent them from growing and they just don’t produce any fruit for God. the last category is fruit bearing and that seeds sewn upon the good ground and there you have three different categories of fruit bearing Christians, a thirty-fold Christian, a sixty-fold Christian and a hundred- hundred-fold Christian.
But I think the second two are both saved but the last group is the fruit bearing one, the other which the second one and the third one I think represent the majority of what is called Christianity and most Christians are not doing anything. Many of them are not even warming the pew. I see. I see. Okay. Well, thank you so I wanted to know. Thanks so much and have a great day. You too, Joyce, and Charlotteville, New York. We now have Bill in Lansing, Michigan and Bill, welcome to Bibleline your own the air.
Okay. Hello, Pastor Aynn. I want to call you about something that I’ve seen in the Bible And it’s called the baptism for the dead or the baptism of the dead. What is that? Well, that’s in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 29 and it talks there about the resurrection Which is what is being debated there because there were some saying there was no resurrection and that Christ if that were the case In Christ would not be raised and then we have no hope at all But it’s talking about those early Christians, many of them had been baptized, who were saved, and now had died, and talked about getting new people saved, and then baptizing them as new believers, and that they were replacing the ranks of those that had died and gone before them.
And it says that’s just absolutely a waste of time if there is no resurrection from the dead. But it’s not saying that you can perform a baptism for somebody who’s already dead. It’s talking about people who were baptized who died and now new believers becoming baptized to replace those who had died and so every generation of believers is to replace ourselves by winning people to Christ. Or could it mean also the baptism of the dead with… No I don’t think so at all.
The thing is really talking about new people getting saved and being baptized that you’re wasting your time if there’s no resurrection of the dead and that these new ones now are replacing the ranks of those that have already died. If you have the Schofield Bible in the center margin, it really brings that out very clearly. Something else I wanted to bring to your attention. You know, you read through the Bible and the descriptions of the Antichrist and what he will do and what he’s all about.
Compare Adolf Hitler with the things that it says about the Antichrist. You know, I kind of think maybe Adolf Hitler could have been the Antichrist, but I’m not so sure on that. Well certainly he was a type of the Antichrist and I think the real Antichrist is going to make Hitler look like a good guy. Because there’s going to be another Holocaust that will be far worse than what Hitler did. It will be worldwide and apparently 9 tenths of the Jews that are around the world will be killed by the Antichrist.
That’s scary. And two thirds of the Jewish people in the state of Israel are going to be killed after the Rapture during the Tribulation Period. So the Jewish people have a hard day ahead and it’s called in Jeremiah 30, the time of Jacob’s trouble when God would bring them back to their land that they would be refined and purified and made ready for their Messiah. Yeah. And the people think that God has turned his, uh, turned his back in the Jews.
Well, they’re wrong, totally wrong because he’s with them all the way. You can look at the wars they fought, the miracles that happened in that six day war they had, you know. Absolutely. Well, thank you. Okay, and it’s really kind of sad that many so-called Christians are really anti-Semitic Okay. because of the teaching of replacement theology, which is just totally a false teaching that came about in the fifth century. We’re now going to go to Dave in Albany, New York, and Dave, welcome to Bible One.
Hey, Dr. Hank, how are you doing? Good. Listen, I just want to ask you why it is that you’re so kind to the Frederick because I’ll be free to enroll the gospel. I mean, can’t we just say that they’re lost because they are free to enroll the gospel? Well, you know, I try to keep myself contained a little bit because, you know, the Bible is very clear that When you cross over certain lines, you’re in trouble with God. And a lot of doctrinal positions today are clearly wrong according to the Bible.
And I tried to instruct people in the Bible so they can recognize those false positions and recognize that they should have no part with them. So I would recommend that you become very familiar with your Bible. When you find you’re in a church or sitting under bad doctrine, as the Bible says, have no fellowship with the unproof works of darkness, but it says avoid them. So we’re to come out from among them and be separate, and hopefully you can find a good church which is right on target with all these doctrines in God’s Word.
They’re hard to find. I know that. You sure welcome, and I try to just be positive and teach the word. I hope if you are listening that you’re a believer, today we have so much counterfeit out there that it’s difficult for somebody to become saved, it seems. By the way, inviting Christ into your heart is not the invitation in the Bible. There’s nowhere in the scripture does it say to invite Christ into your heart or into your life. Nowhere!
You’re not saved by asking. Jesus Christ does not come into your life by asking him to come in or inviting him to come in. He only comes in when you trust in his finished work at the cross. You can’t bypass Calvary. You cannot bypass the death of the burial of the resurrection, which is what the gospel message is. And Romans 1 16 says, I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that what?
Believe it, that means to trust. Those that trust that Christ died for them and shed his blood to pay for their sins in full. And that Christ was buried and rose again from the dead. Those that trust him are the ones that become saved. My friend right now, if you have not trusted Christ as your Savior, then you need to do So are you saved? You know, many are going to one day find out that they weren’t because they didn’t trust Christ.
I talked to a gentleman the other day and he said, yeah, I gave my life to Christ a couple of years ago. I said, well, guess what? You’re not saved by giving your life to Christ or giving anything to Christ. saved by what Christ did for you and until you trust that he gave his life for you and shed his blood for you and was buried in rose again from the dead, you’re not going to be saved. And we talked for another moment or two and then he says, yeah, I gave my life to Christ.
I said, giving Christ anything will not save you. It’s not what you do for Christ that saves. It’s what he did for you. got to trust him. It’s amazing to try to deal with this because he was so ingrained with this false teaching that you give someone to Christ. You don’t give anything to Christ. The Bible says that God is the giver and we’re the receivers. Everywhere you look it’s for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
The Bible says the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Ephesians 2 8 says, Salvation is the gift of God and it’s not of works. As Danny Mann should boast, we don’t give God anything to be saved. We receive what He is giving to us. And He gives us eternal life. 1 John 511 says, This is the record that God hath given to us eternal life. That God hath given to us. He gives to us e-kernelize when we trust Him as our Savior.
And if you do that, my friend, you’re going to be saved. 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 Bibleline Ministries.org. There, you’ll be able to replay today’s program in our audio archives, as well as access other resources, including an, am I going to Heaven quiz, 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 it’s interesting that people don’t think that terminology apparently is very important. And if you could take a look at some verses with me, I think you’ll find that the Bible tells us that it’s very, very important.
And if you turn to 1 Corinthians 1 in verse 17, we find that Paul says that I was sent to preach the gospel, 1 Corinthians 1 17, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect, none effect, none effect. I know that some people use phrases and they think that they are going to be helpful or lead people to Christ, but some people say, ask Jesus into your heart or invite Jesus into your life.
And that’s not the gospel. And with wisdom of words, you can make the cross of none effect. I was raised with that and I was lost. And it wasn’t until I finally heard it, 18, that you have to trust Jesus Christ as your Savior that I finally got saved. What is so interesting is that we’re not saved by asking, we’re saved by trusting. When you go to the passage in Luke where you have Jesus on the cross and you have the two thieves crucified with him, both thieves ask to be saved.
So what do we learn from that? We learn that you can ask and not be saved. The only the one that trusted Christ was saved. So you can ask Christ all of your life to save you and you’ll not be saved. I can get up every morning and say, God save me. Close my day out in the evening and say, God save me. Lord, I’m asking you to save me. Please save me. Lord, save me. Save me. Save me.
And if you don’t trust in the death and shed blood of Christ and His burial and resurrection, you will not be saved. Romans 1 16 says, I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For if the gospel is the power of God, unto salvation to everyone that believeth. That is, would trust. You must trust the gospel message. The gospel message is the message that is the power of God unto salvation. And unless you trust in the death of the burial resurrection of Christ, you will not be saved.
And you have to trust on Christ to be saved. Asking Him to come into your life or promising to give him your life, none of those things will save. And the devil is so clever that he actually makes the Christian of no effect in his witness by changing the words to maybe sound nice or palatable, but we’re not saved that way. It says here, I am sent to preach the gospel in 1 Corinthians 1-17, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
That means zero. Over in the book of Galatians, it talks about how that if we change or alter the Word of God at all, it becomes an accursed message. In Galatians 1, he talks about how that there were those in the churches of Galatia that altered the plan of salvation a little bit. And when they did, we find that they were actually preaching then it says here, another gospel, not the gospel of grace, but grace plus some works. And so he says in verse 7 of Galatians chapter 1 that this is not the same gospel, it’s another.
And there would be some that would trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. So here’s the true gospel perverted by using other terms or terminology that would add to or subtract from what Christ says in the Scriptures. In verse 8 it says, though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you, that which we have preached unto you, let him be one. A cursed. So it says here, if you preach another gospel, then obviously you’re going to be a cursed and the one hearing it is not going to be saved.
And obviously you’re in trouble with God. Verse 9 says, as we said before, so now I say again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you, then that which you have received, let him be a cursed. Very, very powerful message. So, if you alter it or change it in any way, it no longer is the gospel. Amazing, isn’t it? Obviously, you must pay the payment for salvation in order to be saved. Of course, if you paid for it, it would be held at Christ’s made that payment, and unless you trust in the payment that He made for you, you will not be saved.
That’s what the gospel message is all about. We’re going to rejoin stations that have been on break into the second half hour by one, And we’ll be right back with you in one second so don’t go away. If you’d 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 Kevin and he’s in Virginia and Kevin welcome to Bibleline you’re on the Yes, I was listening to you about your comments about the current world and you had mentioned the verse in the Old Testament about that God would gather his people back to you.
I’m a Christian, I’m not anti-Semitic, quite a few verses and the one they want to call attention to is in Revelation two orders to the churches about Jewish people that are not those in people that are actually the synagogue of Satan is what it actually says. What that verse is talking about is in those days all the first early Christians were Jewish. And here it’s like saying that they exposed who they were that would call them those Christians were and were not Christians.
And they were obviously in a church that was of Satan. So basically it’s not saying that the Jews were of Satan, but it’s saying that there were those who were claiming to be born again, who were really not being born again. I believe the context bears that out and expose them as being unbelievers. And obviously we always have those around that sometimes are claiming to be Christian and are not. In Matthew 7, Jesus says many will say to me in that day, Lord Lord, and He says, I never knew you.
He never knew them. They were never saved at all. So I believe that’s what He’s talking about. But you notice chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation deal with this present age. And then in chapter 4 verse 1 we have the Rapture. And after that the church is missing from the book of Revelation and then you’re on Jewish territory. You find that 144,000 Jewish men become the witnesses as the Jewish nation will have that responsibility again. You have two Old Testament prophets coming back to preach again.
That’s Moses in Elijah in chapter You have a temple that’s been rebuilt and sacrifices offered and worshipers at that temple in chapter 11 verse 1 and 2. And you’ll find that the Gentiles will still have control over a portion of the temple mount during that time. And then of course we have Jesus coming back and then judging the nations of this world and then establishing his thousand year kingdom of peace in chapter 20. 20. So it’s not really saying that the God has done with the Jews there, but certainly we need to love the Jew and I’ve been to Israel 15 times now.
And I just really, my heart goes out to the Jews because of all the persecutions they’ve been through. But you can lead them to Christ and they need to know Christ and we need to be trying to reach out to them. But I believe what’s happening today in the state of Israel is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies where God says, I will cause the people of Israel to go back to the land that I gave to their fathers and they shall possess it.
And when that happens it would be a time of trouble for Israel. As they are prepared for the Lord to come back as their king, as their Messiah. And I think we’re really right on the edge of that all happening. I think the rapture could happen. I agree with you, but I think maybe I’ll leave with this comment that a lot could be discussed about this. I would say that it’s the body of Christ, those that believe in Christ, the Son of God.
And it’s not some other group of people. Okay, well I appreciate that. case, if that’s the case, then true Israel is the people that believe in his son. Okay. You have part of that right. The word Israel comes from the Hebrew, which means ish-ra-l, three words, which means child of God. And Jacob became a child of God when he wrestled with the angel of the Lord and he got saved. And all of his descendants are named the children of Israel.
But the Bible is pretty careful to talk about Israel in their unsaved state, the descendants of Jacob as being Jacob. Like it says in Jeremiah 30 when they go back to the land, they would go back in unbelief and it would be a time of Jacob’s trouble. But then it says Israel should be saved out of it. Those who become saved and become Jewish believers will be saved out of it and they become the people that will be the head nation during the millennium.
But definitely the promises that I read a few moments ago earlier in the program are talking about the people that God gave the land to, Jacob and his fathers. That would be Abraham and Isaac. And those that would live after them, their descendants, their children and their children’s children would inherit that land and live in it. And I believe that is literal. Thank you for that call and we appreciate that. We now have Tony in Tampa, Florida and Tony, welcome to Bibleline You’re on the air.
I’m calling about Israel and the Romans chapter 11. Let us describe that we are in the tree which is Israel. If we are now in the tree, where do you get the belief that we are some kind of different entity than Israel when it comes to the body of Christ? it is described that the tree and the wood we are just part of it. We are part of Israel in a sense as a Christian just like the previous ones of other were.
Well the body of Christ is comprised of Jews and Gentiles and if you notice in Romans 11 it talks about us being the wild branches and the Jewish people being the natural branches. So they certainly should be in the tree, but many of those because they have not trusted the Lord are not in the tree, but we who are the wild branches have been grafted in by belief or by trusting Christ. And so we’ve become the branches, but it talks about when the fullness of the Gentiles is come in, that’s the rapture, then that’s going to be the time when God will go back to grafting natural branches back into the tree, which is during the tribulation period, where millions of Jewish people are going to get saved.
And when Christ comes back into the Second Coming, every unsaved person on the planet, Jew and Gentile alike, will be slain. And so it says in verse 26, and so all Israel shall be saved. So all those that are truly Israel will be saved. If you read Romans 9, it does make the distinction. It says here in verse 6, not as though the Word of God had taken an effect, for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.
In other words, just because you’re a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob doesn’t make you a child of God. It says in verse 8, that is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. But the ones who believed in the promised seed, Jesus, they become God’s children, and they become the true seed, seed and they become the branches that are a part of the tree of God where we live in heaven forever.
But it makes a distinction here that the Jewish people who should be in the tree just because they’re Jewish won’t put them in the tree. They’re the natural branches but they’re broken off because of unbelief. But those that are of the descendants of Israel who believe on Jesus, verse 8, They become the seed, they become true Israel, and those are the ones that will be saved in the tribulation period. Our caller had asked about the book of remembrance. I believe that there are A number of books.
If you read Revelation chapter 20, it talks about the Book of Life, and then it talks about other books. These other books record all the deeds that we have done. For the believer at the judgment seat of Christ, those books will be opened, and all the deeds that we have done will be unveiled and will be rewarded accordingly, and their their degrees of reward for the believer as we enter heaven. We enter heaven because we have trusted Christ as the only means of salvation.
But for the unbeliever, their works have also been remembered and they will be assigned a degree of punishment in hell based upon their deeds. And that is at a separate judgment. It takes place a thousand years later, this is described in Revelation 20 verses 11 through 15. So the book of remembrance has to do with the things that we have done. And the Bible says in Revelation 20 that the unsaved dead there were judged out of the books because their names were not found in the book of life.
So only the saved are going to enter heaven, those that are believed or trusted on Christ, and the lost will all get a hell. But there are degrees of reward for the believer and degrees of punishment for the unbeliever based on those books that record all the deeds that we’ve done throughout our life. 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 Matthew or Genesis, plus many others. Now join us as we return to today’s teaching series. This thing said he, and after that he saith unto them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.
Now, sleeping is always a term used of the body because the soul does not sleep. When a person dies, we’re absent from the body, present with the Lord, and we’re conscious. If you read the story of Luke chapter 16 and verse 19 on, you have a rich man, you have Another guy named Lazarus, not the same one as this one, a beggar. And they’re very conscious after death, which their bodies are spoken of as sleeping till the time of the resurrection.
But their souls were very much alive and conscious. And there was conversation. There was memory and so on, all that occurred. So Christ is referring here to the body. But I go that I may awake him out of sleep. He’s referring to the body. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he’s sleepy, he shall do well. They misunderstood what he was saying, but I think Christ knew exactly what he was saying. Verse 13, how be it Jesus’ pick of his what?
Death. But they thought that he had spoken of taking a rest in sleep. So we’re talking about he died, but the body has spoken of his sleeping here and they misunderstood. But that’s how it’s used throughout the New Testament. Then said Jesus ended them plainly. Lazarus is dead. Christ knew what he was talking about, but they weren’t picking up on it and he’s instructing them. And I am glad for your sake, said I was not there. To the intent, you may what?
Believe, there’s that word again, what a wonderful word to trust. Nevertheless, let us go into him. Then said Thomas, which is called Digimus, unto his fellow disciples. Let us also go that we may die with him. old doubting Thomas always seemed to be a little bit different than the rest of the group. So they said, let’s all go. We’ll all be killed up there because Jews are going to stone Christ. They’re going to stone us too. And so this is, we’re going right into the lion’s mouth.
Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. So four Four days had occurred since he had died. Jesus deliberately delayed two days to make it the full four days. Now Bethany was near into Jerusalem about fifteen for a long time, which we just said, it’s just on the other side of the Mount of Olives, not very far at all. Our whole group in March walked down from the top of the Mount of Olives and it’s not that great a distance.
Many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. Martha as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming went out and met him, but Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus. Lord if thou had been here my brother had not died boy She wanted to get that dig in on Christ and saying it’s your fault, you know If you’d been here, you could have kept him alive. We know the kind of miracles you can do, but well, she was kind of disappointed that he had let her down.
They tried to get word to him and respond quickly enough. You can see how human emotions get involved here. Verse 21, but I know that even now whatsoever thou shalt ask of God, God will give it these. So we find here that she was hopeful maybe some kind of a great miracle would take place here. And Jesus said, and her thy brother shall rise again. And Martha said to him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
That is, she and her sister are clearly believers, but she was thinking that yes, of course, we know he’ll be given a new body at the resurrection day. And I believe that he will rise again then. And Jesus then said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He the believer than me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” What a great verse this is, is Christ now is going to demonstrate who he is. I am the resurrection and the life.
He the believer than me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And that’s true of most that have died because they died and then will be resurrected when the resurrection occurs. Verse 26, I believe, is talking about another group entirely. I believe it’s talking about the Rapture. Take a look. He talks about a distinct, different group here, and he says, and who’s to ever live with? They’re living, and believe it in me, shall what? Never die. There’s going to be a group at the end of the age that will be living, and they believe in Christ, and they’ll never die.
There’ll be a group that will be exempted from death. I hope I’m going to be in that group. I’ve been looking forward to it since I first got saved. it says here there will be a group that will be living in, they believe in me and they’ll never die. They’ll be transformed on the way up and that exciting. So as believers, we might be in that group. We really could. I think we’re close enough. Stay healthy a little bit longer and maybe we’ll be caught up and transformed into our new bodies on the way up and never die the physical death.
interesting. That’s what he’s talking about. It will be a group exempted from death, a group that will never die, a group that will be caught up that are living when he comes back. And I think very clearly, here’s another Rapture reference. People who tell me there’s no Rapture in the Bible said, have you read the Bible? Are you sure? Let’s talk about a few of the references and we’ll show you some more in John as we move along here.
But this is a good one. I think clearly verse 25, he’s talking about the normal way everybody dies. You believe you die, you’re resurrected later. But then there’s a group living that will never die that believe in Christ. They’re exempted from death. That’s the rapture I think in verse 26. So if you want to write Rapture in your margin, I think this is an absolute legitimate reference to the rapture. She said that in May, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God which should come into the world.
Wow. He asked her, do you believe all this? And she said, Yes, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God which she’d come into the world. What a great confession. She should get an A for her answer. That’s absolutely right on. And so Martha clearly is a believer. She believes that Jesus is the Messiah. She believes he is the Son of God and she believes he’s the one that the prophets have spoken about that would come into the world.
Absolutely. And when she so said she went her way and called Mary her sister secretly saying the masters come and call it for thee. And as soon as she heard that she rose quickly and came unto him. Now Jesus was not yet coming to the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. So he is outside of town, not quite into Bethany as of yet. In verse 31, the Jews then, which were with her in the house, and comforted her when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, she’d go with under the grave to weep there.
Then when Mary was come, where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down under the feet, saying, in him, Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother had not died, boy, she sounds like her other sister. And they both were saying, Lord, if he had only been here, he wouldn’t have died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned in the Spirit and was troubled, and said, where have you laid him?
And they They said in him, Lord, come and see in verse 35, as Jesus wept. So here we see the human side of Christ. He did love Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and he was grieved by the loss of… He saw them weep and the others weeping and he also wept. And so certainly death is a time of grieving and weeping. Certainly we should not ever say, and I know some Christian groups say you shouldn’t weep at all or whatever.
Well, we don’t weep like others weep, but definitely there is grief and death and we shouldn’t deny that of anybody who has lost someone because they will grieve and they will weep and they should. They need to. That’s a part of the grieving process. So, know anybody ever tell you that you shouldn’t experience grief in the loss of a loved one. Jesus himself obviously experienced that. He wept. If Jesus wept, it’s okay for us to weep as well. Then said to Jews, behold how he loved him.
Look at that. They saw his emotions and they said, wow, Jesus really did love Lazarus. And then some of them said, could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind have caused that even this man should not have died? They were all thinking that. But now the universe 38, Jesus therefore again, groaning in himself, coming to the grave. It was a cave and a stone lay upon it. I’ve crawled down into this cave several times as I’ve been to Bethany, I don’t know how many times almost every trip I’ve been there.
And it’s very confining and if you have claustrophobia, I don’t think you want to try that. But I wanted to see what it was like. I’m the exploratory type and want to check it out. But it’s the traditional site. If it wasn’t the real place, it was close to it. I mean, this is what it would have looked like. as the cave went straight down into the ground and you can kind of climb down in there. Well, in any case, it had a stone over the entrance and Jesus said, take away the stone and Martha, the sister of him that was dead.
Sayeth and them Lord, by this time he stinketh. It was a nice way of saying he stinks. You can imagine a body corrupting for four days that would have been awful stench coming out of a hole in the ground if they had removed the stone. He’s He’s been dead four days! You don’t want to take that stone away from the entrance to the tomb. And Jesus said unto her, said, I not unto thee, if thou wouldest believe, thou should have seen the glory of God.
Wow. These are some of the special moments in the Bible. Moses standing at the Red Sea, the mountains entrapping the people on the one side, the sea on the other, the Egyptian army coming up behind. Moses had stand still and see the salvation of God. He lowered his staff and the Red Sea parted and went across on dry ground. This was certainly another one of those special moments that not everybody is privy to be able to see, but we’re able to experience it tonight because of the word of God.
But Jesus here said, did I not say unto you that if thou wouldst believe, thou should to see the glory of God. Remember he asked her in verse 26, believe us now this? And she said, I believe. Well here she now is going to, with the others, see this incredible miracle. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee, that thou hast heard me.
And I knew that thou hearest me always, but because of the people would stand by, I said it that they may believe that thou hast sent me.” Notice here is an interesting insight into why Christ prayed out loud to the Father. It was for the benefit of the one’s hearing, so they knew what was going on. If he hadn’t prayed out loud, you would not have known what was happening at the moment between the Father and the Son, but he spoke out loud so they could hear what was taking place.
And so he said, because of the people which Dan Baiai said that they may believe that thou hast sent me, and when he had spoken he cried with a loud voice, LASRITH! Come forth! And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes. His face was bound about with a napkin. And Jesus said unto them, LUSIM! And let him go. Join us again for another broadcast of Bibleline. And remember to invite a friend to listen with you.
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This has been Tom Perry, and we look forward to being with you again soon. And as Dr. Lindstrom would like to say, keep looking up, Jesus is coming, and we believe soon. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, the presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida. regular monthly donations to Bibleline make it possible for this ministry to continue in your area and on the internet. Please contact us today and lend your prayerful and financial support. Bibleline’s address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634.
Or visit Bibleline online at BibleLineMinistries.org. Be sure to tune in to another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Obviously, you must pay the payment for salvation in order to be saved. Of course, if you paid for it, it would be held that Christ has made that payment, and unless you trust in the payment that He made for you, you will not be saved. That’s what the gospel message is all about. You’re saved when you trust TRUST in the death of the burial of the resurrection of Christ.
through the blood of Christ that we are saved, and when you trust Christ as the only hope or means of your salvation, then God saves us. It tells us in Colossians 1 that when we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior, when we believe the gospel message, it says in verse 13 that He delivers us from the power of darkness and translates us into the kingdom of his dear son. Verse 14, in whom that is his dear son, Jesus, we have redemption through his blood, through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
The devil is covered day, and he wants us to bypass the blood, bypass the cross, and not recognize that you have to trust in his death and shed blood as the means of your redemption. a book of the blood. And the Bible says in Revelation 1, 5, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. It was the blood of Christ that washed away our sin. And unless you trust in Christ’s death and shed blood, you will not be saved.
Wherever you look, the Bible is clear to teach that his blood was the means by which We are redeemed. And when you trust in His blood, and it was shed for you, then you are saved. Let me read Romans 5-8. It says, God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Verse 9 says, much more than being now justified by His blood, by His blood, by His blood, we shall be raised, or saved rather from wrath through Him.
So it’s through his blood that we are redeemed, and only through the blood of Christ can you have your sins washed away. The hymn writer got it right when he said, what can wash away my sins? The answer being nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. Today, we bypass the blood, we bypass the cross, and we just say, invite Jesus into your heart. Well, guess what? I did that for the first 18 years of my life, every Sunday I invited Christ into my heart.
And I was never saved. It was until I was eighteen that I realized that this was wrong when I heard the gospel explained that I had the trust that Jesus died for me and shed his blood for me on the cross and then was buried in rose again from the dead and that if I would trust that he made that payment for my sin, that then that payment would count for me and I would be saved and I would have eternal life.
But if you bypass the death, the shed blood, the burial, the resurrection of Christ, my friend, you cannot be saved. And yet many, many tracts. If you look at the tracts that are out there, 90% of them are wrong. And you usually see that in the last paragraph, it might be a wonderful tract until you get the actual prayer or invitation where it changes it to a false gospel. And the Bible says in Galatians 1, 8, and 9 that we just read.
it becomes an accursed message and there actually comes a curse on the one who delivers that cursed message because as soon as you pervert the true gospel of Christ by adding some other condition for salvation, it’s perverted and accursed and God obviously tells us that the gospel of Christ is made of none effect, none effect. I heard the false gospel for 18 years until I finally trusted in the death of the barrel of the resurrection of Christ as the means of my salvation.
I’m Dr. Lindstrom. This is Bibleline. Keep looking up. Jesus is coming, and we believe He’s coming soon. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida. Your regular monthly donations to Bibleline make it possible for this ministry to continue in your area and on the internet. Please contact us today. and lend your prayerful and financial support. Bibleline’s address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Or visit Bibleline Online and BibleLineMinistries.org. Be sure to tune in to another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida.