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Bibleline Bibleline, they are God’s word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bible-lined website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Matthew, a book of Matthew. Chapter 5 Matthew Chapter 5 verse 48 verse 48 of Matthew Chapter 5 It’s a verse that’s enough to scare you to half the dead And I want you to make sure you listen to everything that I’m saying very important Verse 48 says be therefore perfect even as your father which is in heaven is perfect God is perfect and he wants us to be perfect now isn’t that a little on the the odd side, especially telling us in this world to be perfect like somebody else is perfect, because you and I know that’s impossible, because nobody’s perfect but God.

He’s the only one that’s perfect. Some even said that, you know, what must I do? Good master in reference to Christ. He says, why call a stow me good? There is none good but one. That’s God. So there’s only one that is good, but long perfect. Because the Bible says we have all sin and he says there is none good, no not one. So there’s none good, not one, there’s not one that’s perfect. So why would Christ ask us to do something or be something we cannot be?

Somebody mentioned that they thought Jesus Christ had two messages, had two gospels. And if somebody came to him that thought they had to earn their way to heaven, he would tell them how good they had to be. And then when somebody else knew that they couldn’t do it, he would tell them just by grace alone, by faith alone. When you read Matthew, Martin, Luke, it seems like there is two messages, but there really isn’t. Christ used the law to show people that they cannot save themselves by their works.

So I want you to look there Matthew chapter five and look what he says in verse 20. Verse 20. Now this is when Jesus Christ was here. Now this is God. Jesus Christ is God. And he says in verse 20, he says, for I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Unless your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.

So the Pharisees were the law-keeper. Those were the best people in the city, in the whole nature of Israel. If they were the best and that wasn’t good enough and yours had to be better than that, well how are you going to do that? Well then he went through and he says a few things that also would cause you to have some problems because he makes a statement in verse 22, but I say unto you that whosoever’s angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall say to his brother Raka shall be in danger of the council but whosoever shall say thou full shall be in danger of hell.

You mean just something so simple? You fool. You know you can go to hell for that. So we finally got I guess to the place where parents finally had a good way of trying to keep her kids under control and make them do right. You don’t make up your bed you’re going to hell. You don’t eat your food, you’re going to hell. If you don’t go to school and dole your homework, you’re going to hell. So it wasn’t long before everybody was told they’re going to hell for everything.

So, my kids figured that, well, I’m going to hell anyway. I might as well have me up all for a good honor. This isn’t talking about… You haven’t earned your way to heaven. But it is showing you that it’s impossible for you to earn your way to heaven. He also made a statement in verse 27. I want you to see that. Verse 27, ye have heard that it was said of them an old time, thou shall not commit adultery.

But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her already in his heart. He said that well that’s all for a man that that’s almost impossible You mean if you don’t do it, but if you think it you’re going to hell for that And everybody’s going to hell. I mean Jesus getting a little strong here I mean this is this is impossible and If you do one little thing in lower look what he says in verse 29 if I right hand I offend they pluck it out Then everybody go around blind He also says you know if If you’re right hand to fend the cut it off.

So whatever you see, if it’s offensive, then what you saw wasn’t the problem, it was your eye. Cut out your eye. And if you do something, I mean, this wrong, then you cut off your hand. Well, after a while, you wouldn’t have any feet. You wouldn’t have any hands. You wouldn’t have any eyes. I mean, what could you do? This is impossible. There’s got to be another explanation. I would think. Well, there is, there is, there really is. But look what he says also in verse 38.

He says, you have heard, and I’m sure you have heard, that it hath been said an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. He said, what do they mean? Well, if you knock out my eye, guess what I’m supposed to do to you? Now I got you right. That takes people out of the eye taking out business. You knock out my teeth, I knock out your teeth, therefore, we stop knocking out teeth. Or everybody don’t have any teeth anymore.

He makes a statement here in verse 43. You have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies. You say now, if this is what, see, he says, unless your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the fairies, you shall not in any wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Then he lays all these things out here. This is what you got to do.

Ooh. You got to do all this, man, who’s going to make it? But he says, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy neighbor. He said, but I say to you in verse 44, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them which spitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father, which is in heaven, that ye may be the children. I mean, I got to do this to be a child of God.

They know it just don’t make any sense. It seemed like this is backwards from everything I was always taught. This is, you gotta live a perfect life. You can’t do that. And then he talks about down here again in verse 48, be therefore perfect even as your Father which in heaven is perfect. You see why people can get so confused? I can see why they can get confused. Was Jesus confusing? No. It’s our limited understanding. You see, whenever people think they have to live so good to go to heaven, you know what Christ would say?

Just be perfect. If you want to be saved by your good work, it shouldn’t be perfect. You sure nobody could be perfect. What? The point. You sure can. So why try? But during the kingdom of God sits upon the earth, this is what He’s going to require. You have to live like this during the kingdom when He’s up on the earth. Matthew chapter 19, there was a man who came to Christ, I want you to see this, in verse 16, verse 16.

Matthew 19 verse 16, he said, and behold one came and said unto him, good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? See everybody wants to have eternal life. What good thing must I do that I may have eternal life? What do I have to do? He said unto him, why call us thou me good? There’s none good but one, that’s God. But if thou will enter into the life, keep the commandments. See there you see, he says you got to keep the commandments to be, have eternal life.

All right. And he said unto him, which? So which one? Which one do I have to keep? Well, you and I know that according to the book of Galatians, if you got to keep the law, you have to keep how many of them? All of them. And he says, and not only keep them today, you have to continually keep them every day as long as you live from From the time you’re born to the time you die, you’ve got to keep the law perfectly.

And if you fail at any point, then you blew it. You can’t go to heaven. Well, he says, Thou shalt do no murder, shall not commit adultery, shall not steal, shall not bear false witness, honor thy father, thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbors thyself. And the young man said, All these things have I kept from my youth, up from a youth. I done did all of that. I did it. So I get to go. He said, what lack I yet?

In other words, what else do I have to do? Jesus said to him, if thou will be, what’s the word? If thou will be perfect, go and sell that thou hast give to the poor, thou shall have treasure in heaven and come and follow me. Boy, that’s a whole bunch. So you can see why people think they have to be good to go to heaven and why people think they have to keep the 10 commandments to go to heaven and why people think they have to give up something to go to heaven and give to the port to go to heaven.

So people think going to church, given your money and not live in a certain way and following the Lord all of us involved in going to heaven because that’s what he said. That’s what he said. You can’t ask he said that. I just read it to you right out of there black and white. But in verse 22 he said, but when the young man heard that saying he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. Now whenever Christ used the law and he says thou shall not commit adultery and thou shall not steal and thou shalt not know.”

You know the one that he didn’t mention? Thou shalt not covet. He left Christ left that one out. So when he said, well, what do I lack at? You broke the one on covet, he broke all the other, he just didn’t know it, but he covet. And so Christ used the law to show him that he has not kept all the law. So he makes a statement in verse 23, Jesus said unto his disciples, verily I send you that are rich, man shall hardly intern to the kingdom of heaven.

Why? Because why do you have so much riches? Coveting. You see, most people have a lot of riches if they covet a lot. But you can be a poor man and covet. Can you covet what a rich man has? Mm-hmm. You may be dirt poor here today and guilty of covetousness because you live for greed. You just can’t get it, but if you could you would. But he makes a statement. He says in verse 24, and again I send you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter to the kingdom of God.

He says, it’s harder to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter to the kingdom. Why? Because the rich man trusts in his riches. As long as you have a lot, I don’t need God. I don’t need God because I got money. So many people think that as long as I got money, I can buy anything I want. You’re gonna find out one of these days it cannot buy you life. It may extend your life a little bit because you can afford a good health insurance and a good doctor, but sooner or later you’re gonna die.

It can’t get you eternal life. I know that in verse 25 when his disciples heard it they were exceedingly amazed saying now get this he says who then can be saved who can be saved because if you have to be perfect in order to be saved the question the disciples asked who can be saved because this would eliminate how many people in the world, everybody, because none of you in here can meet the standard. You see, God gave His law in order for you to look at it and realize you can’t keep it.

You cannot keep the law. There’s not a man that can stop from ever-lusting after a woman, because you have a sinful nature within you. You cannot always love your neighbor. You don’t always love your enemies. You don’t always do good to them who persecute you and say evil things about you. No, you don’t. You get mad and you get angry and you want to fight back and you want to hurt back and you may not outwardly do it, but inwardly gets brewing and you know it if you’re an honest individual or you could be a liar.

The Bible says we’re all liars. I remember the first time I ever saw Ray Stanford do this in a big old meeting that he had. He said, how many of you in here have never told a lie, raise your hand. I mean, never told a lie, raise your hand. Well, you know, you’ll have a few kids that’ll raise your hand and they’re lying. And so, of course, they’re gonna put your hands down. Okay, nobody’s ever told a lie. How many of you here’s never stole anything in your life?

You never stole anything? Well, I can’t, I never stole anything. Well, I stole a pencil one time. Well, have you ever stole credit for something you didn’t do? Well, yeah. Okay, he says, so now I need to know that I need to hang onto my wallet because everybody in here has admitted that you’re liars and thieves. Everybody, your liars and your thieves. We are, that’s what we are. We’re liars and thieves. And everybody is. And nobody can save themselves.

But look what he says in verse 26. Jesus beheld them, said them of them, with men, with men, this is what? He says it’s impossible. You mean the very one that just told you to be perfect, also just told you it’s impossible. And yet you see, people don’t read far enough. And so now many of them taking those other verses that you gotta keep the law to go with heaven. You’ve got to be good to go to heaven. And you’ve got to love your enemies.

And you’ve got to go to church. You’ve got to learn to give to the poor. And you’ve got to do all those things in order to go to heaven when you die. And knowing that nobody can. You can’t fulfill all of it. You’re not good enough. So God says it is impossible for you. But look what He says in the last part of it. But with God, all things are what? It is possible. It’s possible for me to be saved.

By God, but it’s not possible for me to be saved by me. I cannot save myself. You cannot save yourself. Now, I want to show you a verse that many people have heard all so long, almost all their life, but don’t really understand. Look in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 15, 1 Corinthians and chapter 15. We often call this the resurrection chapter, and it is, it talks about the resurrection. But there’s something in here that I want you to see.

Here in 1 Corinthians in chapter 15, I want you to know there in verse 1. He said, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, which I preach unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand, by which also ye are saved. You are saved by what? The gospel. And he says, if ye keep in memory, so now you know you could not be saved by yourself. You could not, because it’s impossible. But he says, with God it is possible.

So evidently somehow the gospel is to reveal to a lost man that which was impossible, impossible. The gospel. The story of presenting the gospel to a lost man, a person doesn’t know where he’s going. Shows a man why it’s impossible for him to save himself and why it is possible for God to save him. And the reason it’s impossible for a man to save himself because God says there’s none good, there’s none righteous, there’s none perfect. have sin so a man can’t save himself by his good deeds because he don’t have any.

He can’t have any. But yet in that same message is something that reveals the possibility of God saving a man. So the gospel reveals the impossibility of man saving himself but the good news is that a God can and God will. Now that’s what he says here. He says in the last part of verse two, He says, by which you’re also saying, if you keep in memory, what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain, you have to wait.

Well, how can you believe in vain? You can believe in vain very easy. How? Well, if you believe in Jesus Christ and he really didn’t die, or your sins, that didn’t vain. You believe in vain or you trust in vain. If he died and didn’t come back from the dead, then you’re believing in vain. Trusting in somebody who’s still dead. And you also see you can believe in vain if you don’t believe what the gospel really says. See a lot of people say, well I’ve heard the gospel all my life and they say they believe in Jesus Christ.

But don’t really believe what he said. You can believe in George Washington. But that doesn’t mean you’re trusting George Washington to get you to heaven. You can believe that Jesus Christ down the cross and paid for sin and still not you go to heaven. Just because you heard that that’s a historical fact But to some times it comes the time when you have to believe he did it for you But what is said in verse 3 variety delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how the Christ He just died for our sins now stop right there You hear the statement all the time Christ died for our sins Alright Which of our sins did he died for?

If he died for all of our sins there are people who teach that Christ paid for your sins up to the time you believe and then after that you’re on your own. Then commit a sin that he didn’t die for or a sin that he did die for but you haven’t been forgiven for it. So there’s two things that has to take place. One is you must believe that he paid for a humming of your sins all of them and you must believe that he forgave you of all your sins when you trusted him.

Because if you believe he He paid for all of your sins. Then you say, okay, I believe He paid for all of my sins. And He’s forgiven me only for those that I confess. But now I’ve got to confess all of these one by one. Is it possible for you to commit a sin and not know you did it? Are you aware of every one of your sins that you have committed? So at this point, if you believe that you could lose your salvation because there’s some sin that you did not get forgiven for, then you don’t know that you’ve already lost it or not.

Because you can commit a sin and not know it. Is it possible for a person to be deceived? Yeah. So you could deceive yourself in the thinking that what you did was okay. And God says it is a sin and he could have already cost you your salvation and you didn’t even know about it. How stupid. So you have to understand this. He died for how many of your sins? All our Now when I say he did it for our sins, that means mine and yours, our would be all of us.

That means if I believe he did it for all of my sins, well, if he forgave me of what I’ve already done, but then I’ve got to get individually forgiven for all these sins, then I’ve got to stay on track and ask forgiveness for all these sins that I’m going to commit now until the day. So today, Lord forgive me, Lord forgive me, Lord forgive me, Lord forgive me, Lord forgive me. How big of a gap can I have in here what I wouldn’t have to worry about it?

How often would I have to keep asking him to forgive me to make sure that I got them all covered? You don’t really know So it’s see your salvation would depend upon you asking for forgiveness over and over and over again God says no, you don’t have to do that you see when you believe he paid for all of our sins and You accept that payment that he has forgiven you of all of your sin all forgiven. He forgive you of all of them.

That’s the penalty which is death in hell. You have been forgiven of the penalty of your sins. As you live your Christian life, yes, as a child of God, I should confess my sins to the Lord. That’s for fellowship, not for salvation, total difference. But you see, what you have to understand is, is this sin that I commit today or the sin that I commit tomorrow or the sin that I commit the next day? Who are they? If I did it, I owe it.

I own it. It’s mine. So when I say Christ died for our sins, I must believe he died for my sin. That was mine. That was mine. That was mine. That was mine. That was mine. And he died for my sins. So he doesn’t say here. He died for only those things you’ve already done 10 years ago. ago, he died for my sins, all of them are included. So they’re all there. And he hath forgiven me of all sins from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

So I have a payment for all of my sins all at one time. Remember that if a man trusts Christ as his Savior and God gives to him as a free gift everlasting life. If it’s everlasting life, it lasts forever. This is why I am so strong on the doctrine of eternal security. Once saved, always saved. And the reason is because that is the gospel. If a man does not believe that he has eternal security, I don’t believe the man is saved.

I don’t believe anybody who’s saved if they don’t believe they’re saved forever. Because if they don’t know for sure they’re going to heaven, why should I believe they are? Why should I believe you’re going to heaven when you don’t even believe it? Only way you can believe that you’re going to heaven when you die is that there’s nothing that can keep you from getting there. If you could do something today or tomorrow or the next year that could keep you from getting to heaven, you don’t know you won’t.

If it’s possible, how do you know you won’t. And if that means that you could commit a sin that could lose your salvation, you’re actually saying Christ didn’t pay for that sin. And if Christ didn’t pay for it, you’re calling God a liar. Any person who does not believe in eternal security calls God a liar. Don’t believe him. When Jesus said, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life, if you don’t believe you have everlasting life, then you don’t believe what he said.

I’m not telling people to wonderful and sweet and kind and all of a, if they don’t believe what Christ said, then they don’t believe it. They don’t believe it. And if they don’t believe it, they call them a liar. And so therefore, I believe in the doctrine of eternal security. That once you’re saved, you have eternal life as a gift and you’ll go to heaven whenever you die. And there is no tricks to that. There’s no gimmicks to that.

It is the best news in all the world. Now, because this is true in 1 Corinthians in chapter 15, I want you to see this verse because it is true and he is coming back. He says in verse 20, but now is Christ risen from the dead. So your faith is not in vain. Become the first fruits of them that slept by sense and for sense by man came death. By man came also the resurrection of the dead. For in Adam all die, that’s the first man.

Even so in Christ, the last man shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ is coming back. And when he comes back, he’s taken all of us out. And we can believe that all of that’s true. Now he can’t do that if he didn’t pay for all of our sins. And here’s why. How many of your sins were in the future when Christ died? When Christ died 2,000 years ago, how many of your sins were in the future?

All of them. You weren’t even born yet. Can Christ pay for your sins before you committed Him? Yes, He did. can Christ forgive you of sins? You have not yet committed. Yes. He can pay for them before you commit them and he can forgive you before you commit them. It’s maybe difficult to understand, but that’s the power of this good news. And he says, we’re saved because he has an endless life, an endless life. He lives forever and his blood is incorruptible and I have a payment that is eternal, eternal redemption, a payment that he made.

And then I want to close in this one verse, look at in verse 58. Verse 58, because this is true. And life is short, and we’re not going to be here forever. Therefore in verse 58, therefore my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Do I believe that a Christian should labor in the Lord? Yes, do I believe in good works?

Yes, I do, but I don’t believe you should do that to be saved or to stay saved. I was saved by grace Means without my works. I am kept saved without my works. He saved me by his power. He keeps me saved by his power. I didn’t have the works good deeds to save myself. I don’t have the good deeds to keep myself saved. But as a child of God, I believe in certain or with all my heart, not to get to heaven, but because I’m going there.

If you have not trusted Christ as your Savior, you’re lost. You are going to hell. But it doesn’t have to be that way. As long as you can draw breath, you can trust Christ as your Savior. He said, he’ll never cast you out and never lose you. All you must do is believe that he did it for you. Look up here. This is you and me, and this is sin. We all have sin upon us. Now God, keep in mind.

God loves you. You hate your sin, but he loves you. The Bible says we committed the sin, but he paid for our sin. So from the time that I’m born to the time that I die, all my sins that I own their mind. He died for it. He paid for all of mine. So it doesn’t matter whether it’s past, present or future, if they’re mine, he paid for it. He died in my place for mine, that which I owned.

were my sins and he paid for them in four came back from the dead. Now when I believe he did it for me, he forgives me of all that I’ve done not because of what I’ve done, but because of what he did for me. He paid for my sins. And so now all my sins are paid. All my God don’t have a sin against me. There’s not one sin that can keep me from going to heaven because you see I don’t have any.

He died in my, I’m going to heaven because of what he did for me. I am as righteous as God in God’s eye. God sees me, he sees me just as righteous and holy as his son is. Just as righteous and holy as God himself. Because see there’s no sin in heaven, but I’m going there. See with man it’s impossible, but with God he can make you perfect. And if he can make you perfect, would that be good enough to go to heaven?

Yeah. So I’m going to heaven because I have been made perfect and righteous as God. Not not because of what I did, not because my works, but because Jesus Christ, He loved me. My sins, paid for the one cross, came back from the end. God says, if I believe He did it for me, it’d give me turn on life. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message.

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The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10.30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.org. Thanks for joining us on Bible Live and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. friend one day it will happen the trumpet will sound we will be changed hot up to meet the lord in the air so live today and every day believe in that the lord is coming soon and just keep looking up