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Bibleline Bibleline, here 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 Bibleline 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.

Well, glory. Get your Bible. Turn to the book of Galatians. Relations a book of Galatians in chapter one We started in the first chapter. Oh, we didn’t get too far, but we it was a start we talked about the a gospel of Jesus Christ and That it is by grace and not of works and God says there is not another gospel of the same kind There’s not another gospel of the different kind there is not another gospel the gospel What we’re talking about is the message by which a man is saved and has eternal life.

The message we’re talking about is the one you take into all the world and explain to people how they can be certain of eternal life. And it’s by grace and grace alone. And the test of the gospel is grace. Is it free? If the message that people talk about preaching to the gospel, if it isn’t totally free, it’s not the gospel. The gospel means without works. without works. It’s by grace. Grace is the absence of human efforts. So God does not save a man because he promises to live right or because of any good deeds that he does or any amount of money he may give, joining a church will not get a person to heaven.

Giving money, though I don’t mind you doing it, won’t get you to heaven. It won’t even help get your little pinkies one inch closer to the pearly gates. Salvation is truly a gift of God. But look what he says in verse 6, this is a little review on this real quick. I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ into another gospel. So if they were changed into another gospel means they started preaching works for salvation.

So that’s the only other kind of gospel there is. There is a gospel that is free of works and it’s by grace and it’s free. When you add any works to it, then it’s another message. It is not the same message. And I preached the sermon not long ago. And it dealt with, if you want to see the face of God, you have to understand the gospel. The gospel is how you get to know a little bit about God.

And so when you really understand the gospel, then you’ll understand about what God is like. If God says, He loves me, but I have to pay my way to heaven. No, wait a minute. And I say, well, what do I have to do? He’s just be perfect. Okay, we got a problem. I can’t be perfect. So what Jesus Christ did, God’s Son, came into the world, died on the cross and paid for how many sins? All the sins of the world.

Now if He paid for all of your sins, then you don’t have any to pay for it. They’re all paid. All you have to do is accept what he did for you and God gives you eternal life. And you get to go to heaven because it’s a gift. It’s totally free. Now, he says here in verse seven, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. You see, the reason that troubles you, any time you teach works for salvation, you cause a person that meant to anguish.

It really does. Because now his salvation going to heaven depends upon how good he is. So now he doesn’t know if he’s good enough to make it or if he’s bad enough not to make it. He don’t know where he stands anymore. See, as long as you knew it was free, you knew you had eternal life. He was going to heaven. He didn’t even get a worry about it. I have not had to worry about where I’m going to go for forty, nine years.

But if I believe that a man has to be good to get to heaven, that changes everything. Now I know how long do I have to be good and just how good? Well, you got to go to church. Okay, which church? Well, you got to give money. How much? What if I don’t have it? What if I gave it all? Then I started it. And then find that didn’t work and I go to hell. You have to understand salvation is the gift of God, but he says in verse 8, but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel and you then that which we have preached and you let him be occurred.

In other words, the message is an accursed message. It doesn’t save a person. The message is accursed. And so God says, sever yourself from anybody who preaches and accursed message, a message that won’t save. That’s why it’s not wise for anybody to go to a church where the preacher preaches works for salvation Because a works for salvation message is a an accursed message It won’t say but look what he says here in Galatians in chapter 5. Just jump on ahead and just a little bit, but it’s okay But looking verse 1 of chapter 5 Stand fast therefore in the liberty where with Christ hath made us free and the only way you can and stand fast and liberty is that it was totally free.

If I have to do something to save myself, now I’m in bondage. Because now I’m enslaved, I’ve got to perform, I’ve got to go to church, I’ve got to give money, I’ve got to live right, I’ve got to do this, I can’t do that, I can’t. It’s bondage. It’s like putting yourself in a prison. And that’s what religion does. That’s why I hate religion. Religions are man-made. Comes from too Latin words, re-enligue, meaning to bind back. And there’s people trying to bind themselves back to God by their religion.

Religion will not work. Remember when Christ came it was the religious people that He had the problem with. They’re the ones that wanted them crucified. Who? The religious people. Because what Jesus said and what the religious leaders said wasn’t the same thing. And so today we tell people that this is by grace and grace alone. Wow, that’s too easy. You got to do something. can’t believe that it’s free, free. So he says in verse one, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

In the words where you’re in slavery and you have to perform. So he says, behold, I Paul said to you, if you be circumcised in order to be saved, Christ prophets you nothing. In other words, there’s no value there. People say, well, I’m trusting Christ, but I got to do good just in case. So that means you’re not really trusting Him, you’re trusting in your good works. And if you don’t perform, you don’t make it. That’s not salvation by grace.

That’s salvation by work. So that means you’re going to heaven depending on how you live. So that means you are the Savior. You’re saying the words Christ, you’re referring to Christ, but you’re not trusting Christ. You must trust Him in Him alone as your only hope of getting there. I’m not going to heaven because I’m a preacher. I’m not going to in heaven because I read the Bible and I study and I go to church and I give money and I know that’s not why I’m going to heaven.

I’m going to heaven because forty-nine years ago in a little old room in Athens, Georgia, I trusted Christ as my Savior and He saved me. I was just as much saved that moment as I am today. I had eternal life then. I got it now. It hasn’t changed. I am just as secure as I have always been. And how I live, does it make it more secure or more unsecure? Does it work that way? I’m going to happen because of what Christ did.

Who I like that. But look what he says in verse 4. Christ has become of no effect unto you, who so ever are justified by the law. And look, if you’re seeking to be justified by your works, then Christ doesn’t count. I mean, it’s of no avail. It doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t profit you anything. He’s, well, I’m trusting Christ. Where are you going to die? Well, hell, if I don’t change, then what did you need him for? He has nothing to do with it.

It all depends on you and how you live. So in the back of most people’s minds, they think, well, how you live ought to determine where you go. And it doesn’t work that way. Because if all of us went according to how we live, we’ll all go to hell. Nobody has ever lived so good they deserve to go to heaven. There isn’t no such person for all have sinned and come short of God’s perfection. Now, if you want to go to heaven by your good good to work on you.

I do it. Be perfect. Now who gets to go? Nobody. Nobody gets to go. Look what he says here in Galatians 2. Look there in verse 21. He says, I do not frustrate the grace of God. That means I do not set it aside. In other words, grace can only work if you accept it by faith. You cannot have grace by your works. They’re opposite. They don’t work that way. Grace means without words. Works means without grace. It means if it’s free, it’s free.

But if it’s by works, then it can’t be free. But if it’s free, it can’t be by works. Well, that makes sense. So he says in verse 21, I do not frustrate the grace of God for if, get this, if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. I mean, there was no purpose, no reason for him to die. If you have to earn your way to heaven. So the book of Galatians is clear. He said, well, where did Paul get such a message?

Well, you see there in verse 10 of chapter 1, he says, but I certify you, brother, that the gospel which was preached of me is not from man. In the word, I didn’t get this message from any individual. I didn’t get it from the other apostles. Remember the apostle Paul didn’t run around with the crowd. He wasn’t in there when Jesus was on the earth. He was persecuting the church, putting them in prison, slaughtering people. So he was a bad man.

So one day on the road to Damascus, we’re to get some paper so that he could put more people in prison, a bright and shining light. But look what he says in verse 12, verse 12, he said, for I neither received it up man, neither was I taught it. But by the revelation of Jesus Christ, in other words, I got it straight from the Lord. Jesus Christ. Now, if the Apostle Paul says that he got it from the Lord.

Now, he’s one of two things here. He’s either telling the truth or he’s lying. True? He says, I got this from God. He said, I didn’t get it from man. Now, if he’s telling the truth, then man didn’t originate this gospel. He got it from God, then it came from God. So God is the one that says there’s a heaven, I’ve never seen it. God’s the one that says there’s a hell, I’ve never seen that. I really don’t care to it.

You know if you would just let us dangle over the pits of hell, just for maybe five, ten seconds, it might convince every one of us to trust the Lord, huh? You know just give you a little warm up. But I’m glad that I don’t have to go to hell. And what I like about it, I can’t go to hell. See the lip of 49 years ago, I can’t go there. It’s impossible for me to go there. I can’t go today, I can’t go tomorrow.

I can’t never go to hell. You say, well, you think you’re so good? Yeah, no. It’s because I believe Christ died and paid for my sins and I trusted him as my savior. He’s my savior, saving me from what? From hell. That’s why I trusted him. So I wouldn’t go there. I had a person say one time, well, you ought not trust the Lord as fire insurance. I thought that’s a pretty good reason to trust him. Come to think of it, that’s exactly why I trusted the Lord.

I didn’t know God, didn’t love God. I was told he loved me and he didn’t want me to go to hell. And after I heard about that, I didn’t want to go there either. So I trusted Christ as my savior. Now, the next three verses really get interesting. So here’s the apostle Paul, now remember now, He was a Pharisee himself. So he was way up there in the Jews religion. I mean, he must have been somebody. But he says, I was high in the Jews religion.

He says, above many my own equal of my own age. So even as a young man, he then creamed and rose to the top real quick. So I guess he would say he’s one of the top notch boys. So in verse 13, he says, for ye have heard of my conversation, That means his behavior, his manner of life, and time passed in the Jews’ religion. So Paul says, hey, I was in religion. I was in the Jews’ religion, the religion of Judaism.

Now what was so wrong with it, I thought there the gods chosen people. You probably believe what they believe. Yep, but see, they didn’t believe what God had told them. God gave them the law in the Old Testament. No, thou shalt not. told him these things not to do. He gave him the moral law, the civil law, the sacrificial laws. He gave them all these laws. And as a nation they were supposed to obey that and God would bless him and so forth.

They didn’t smack them. But as an individual, doing those things never saved an individual. It just gave them national blessings or God’s chasing from other countries. But individually they still had to trust the Lord and believe on the Lord. They had to understand what those sacrifices were about. They had to believe that the Messiah was to come and to die and pay for the sins and all those sacrifices they made were only a type of it. So they forgot the reason for it and just did the rituals.

Just like people did they. God wants is people to go to church. Does he want us to go to church to go to heaven? No. But are there people today who go to church thinking that going to church or reading their Bible and praying and giving is going to get them to heaven? So they’re trusting in their rituals. These are things that we do, but we don’t do them to get to heaven. So there’s a lot of people that go to church and they’ll be churches filled all over America.

And they’re doing that so they can go to heaven when they die. In other words, look how good I am today. Now, it won’t matter what I am like. on Monday through sanity, but on Sunday I was in church. And I gave some money. So therefore I’m covered. I’m good to go till next Sunday. That’s religion. That won’t work. Paul was high up in their news religion. And look what he says. He says, how that beyond measure, I persecuted the church of God and wasted it.

Look, we got in verse 23, down in verse 23 But they had heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now preached the faith Which once he destroyed so the apostle Paul was a bad man and he did everything he could to destroy Christians and in his mind Heorage he was doing God ), a favor He thought he was doing the work of God By trying to stop these people Because what they were teaching was something contrary to the religion of Judaism and they had to be loyal and faithful and And they were willing to kill, protect their religion.

You know, I know some religions today don’t tell you if you don’t believe like they believe. You’ve heard of the religion of Islam. The religion of Islam is more of political than a religion, but it’s a belief system, but it’s also a political system. And the religion is man-made. It didn’t come from God. Man-made up that religion. the religions of the world that have works in their message on how to get to heaven and you have to earn it, that’s man-made.

The one that God made and God gave to Paul was its freedom and all the other religions want to charge. Just kind of like this, the King James version, it’s not copyrighted. So anybody can use it. Anybody can copy it. All the other versions are copyrighted. Why? Because it’s made for money. So they have to change at least 10% of it in order to make it different so that they can charge for it. And so they make it easier to understand.

Now is it better to have one that’s easier to understand but are they accurate? Or is it better to have one that’s really accurate but it might be a little difficult to understand? And that’s only because there are certain words that have changed but I’ve been using the King James all these years. And therefore I don’t have to worry about I can copy this and paste it and do whatever I want to do with it, but all the other versions, you can’t do that with it.

Because see, they did that for money. It’s not because they want to get the Bible in more people’s hands. The Bible was already the most popular bread book, soul book in the world. So anyway, I don’t know how y’all got me sidetracked on that y’all. But look what he says down in verse 14. He said, and profited, profited in the Jews’ religion. Now this is the great apostle Paul. I want you to see something because it’s really, those of the little I don’t have.

Hold your place right here and look in the book of Philippians in chapter three. The book of Philippians in chapter three. And look what he says, a lot about himself. But in Philippians in chapter three, verse one, he says, finally, my brethren. So he’s writing to those that do believe the truth, of trust and Christ is Savior. He says, Rejoice in the Lord. Now you know where he’s writing from? I have a prison. And he says, Rejoice in the Lord.

Isn’t somebody that’s in prison writing to those people that’s on the outside? Hey, let me encourage you. It seemed like I’d be backward today, wouldn’t it? In verse 1, finally my brother will rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you, to me, indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, dogs. It’s really a reference to the people that are trying to do you in. As a Jew, they used to call the Gentiles dogs.

I ain’t making that up now. That’s what I’m not saying that. Even when he was on the cross, he says dogs have compassed me round the bow, which was a reference to the Gentiles. Christ said that. But it was a reference to what they do. They’re vicious and they want to devour you and tear you apart. He says in verse 2, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the decision. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.

You ought to underline that phrase, no confidence in the flesh. That means that you and I should not put any confidence in our flesh. That means by what I do can save me. Why would I think that anything that I do could save me? Don’t put confidence in the flesh or in your good works. Like, I’m trusting in my money that I give. I trust in my good deeds that I do. And I trust and don’t do that, he says.

Who else, he says? Looking verse 4, though I, and he’s referring to himself now, as a religious man, though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man think that he might trust in the flesh, I’m more. He said, now look who I am. Verse 5, circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of the Hebrews, touching the law of Pharisee. That’s what he says about himself. He’s somebody, he’s out way up there in the Jews’ religion.

He said, look at me. And if you think that being good’s gonna get you to have it, look how good I was. So he says, for a sake concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness, which is in the law, blameless. Doesn’t mean it was perfect, but it was blameless. In other words, if he broke the law, he did what you had to do to correct the problem. And so he could be declared blameless. So the man was an awesome man, but he was religious, but he was lost.

And look what he says about all those good things that he did. Look who he was. Now he knew the law. He tried to live by the law. And people that they’re trying to earn their way to heaven, Paul says, I’ve been there, done that. So he says in verse seven, but what things were gained to me in the flesh, those I counted lost for Christ. In Lord, I had all of that, but I didn’t have Christ. That makes the difference.

You can have all your good works and not have Christ. So he says here in verse eight, yay, doubtless and I count all things, but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but done that I may win Christ. In other words, I’d rather have Christ than have all that other thing that I’m trusting in. He said all those things is confidence in the flesh because he talks about what he did, what he believed, the sacrifices that he made.

But that was all works for salvation. And he says, I had confidence in the flesh, in what I could do, but I didn’t have Christ. So look in verse 9, verse 9 ought to knock your socks off. You ought to underline this verse in your Bible. Look what Paul says here. He says, and be found in him. Talk about Christ. Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law. that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

Now in this verse there’s two righteousness mentioned. One is the by works righteousness and by faith righteousness. In other words, there’s the righteousness that I do. And he says, don’t put confidence in the flesh. And whenever you die or when the Lord comes, Don’t be found having your own righteousness, trusting in your works to get you to heaven. God always says it won’t work. But there is a by faith righteousness. In other words, by faith, you trust Christ is your Savior and Christ gives you His righteousness.

Now God gave you His righteousness that would make you as righteous as God. If I was made as righteous as God, if He He gave me his righteousness. That makes me as righteous as God. I go to heaven on his righteousness. Now would you do that go to heaven on yours or his? So whenever he comes or whenever you die, how do you want to be found in him or in your own righteousness? So he says, be found in him, not having my own right, not, that means not trusting in your going to church, not trusting in your keeping the law, not trusting in your money, Because God’s already said, and there’s going to be a lot of people going to be very surprised.

Because that’s exactly what they’re trusting in. For example, a lot of people tell me, I trust a Christ as my Savior. I know I’m going to heaven when I die. Sounds good, Subar. Then I asked them a simple little question like, is there anything you can do between now and the time that you die that could keep you from going to heaven? Oh, yeah. Then you don’t get it. You don’t get it. Because if there’s anything you can do that could keep you from going to heaven, that means that you’re not doing that is why you’re going.

So you’re trusting in your works because if you do bad works, you’re not going to make it. But if you do live right, you will make it. So your salvation doesn’t depend upon him, depends upon you. You’re not trusting Christ’s Savior. Oh, it would be great if a lot of people could understand what I’m saying, but they don’t get it. They don’t understand it. Go back to Galatians. So little by little, see, there was these legalistic Judaizers that would follow the apostle Paul around and whenever they could, they would take those people that he reached and retrain them.

He said, you know, the apostle Paul, he doesn’t know everything. You know, he wasn’t with the other disciples in Jerusalem. I mean, he’s really a nobody. Now let me tell you. And so then they mingle the works in there. This is what you got. You got to be circumcised. You got to keep the law of Moses to be saved. So they changed the message. And Paul says, I am amazed that you’re so soon for quickly removed from him that called to the grace of Christ to do another gospel, which is not another one.

But there will be some that will trouble you. And this is why there’s people that don’t know where they’re going when they die. Because if I met a guy on the street and I says, do you know how to get to heaven? No. Well, then you’re lost. You don’t know how to get there from where you are. Do you know how to get there? Then you don’t. You’re lost. How is that to get the man lost it’s why I try to get him saved.

But anyway, looking Galatians, he says in verse 14 and profited in the Jews religion above many my equals and my own nation being more exceedingly zealous of the tradition of my fathers. So he says, I know what it’s like to have a zeal. He says, I’ve been there. Hold your place here. But look there in the of Romans. Romans in chapter 10, Romans chapter 10, and look in verse 1, this is the Apostle Paul. Now remember he’s in Israel.

But he says in verse 1, he says, brethren, he says, my prayer and hearts desire for Israel is that they might be what? Might be saved. He says, In verse 2, for I bear them record. That they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. That’s what he was like. He had this zeal. He was zealous of the tradition of his father. He knew the law, he knew the tradition, and he was going to kill those that try to mess up their little religious plan that they got going.

He was a Pharisee. Now today we would call a Pharisee a hypocrite. They talk but they don’t do. But anyway, he says, for I bear them record, they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge. Remember, there’s two things that I’ve mentioned concerning these verses. You can have zeal, you can have knowledge. Sometimes you have a zeal to desire, boy, I want to do something for the Lord. I want to do something. But you don’t have the knowledge, at least a frustration.

But some people, they’ve got the knowledge on how to do a lot of things. But they don’t have any zeal. least a frustration too. So with zeal and no knowledge is frustrating because you don’t know how to do what you want to get done. You want to do something but don’t know what. And when you’re limited in knowledge you’re limited in ministry. So that’s why you learn so that you don’t know how to do it. And then hopefully in the process you don’t lose the zeal.

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. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the Clear Gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bible line and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, CalvaryofTampa.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon. and just keep looking up.