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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 a Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the Bible iMinistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family. People who teach you can lose your salvation are deceitful. One is they have to deceive themselves first of all. And the reason they deceive themselves is because if they really and really believe that you’ve got to live a certain way to maintain your salvation so that you don’t lose it, they never know if they already have lost it.

And they are not living as good as they’re preaching that they do. I’ve heard people say, I haven’t sinned in 40 years. What’s he doing when he says that? He’s lying. Why can’t he see that he’s lying? Because he’s deceived. Because he’s not counting as a sin, what God’s word counts as a sin. And they think that if I don’t do those certain bad things, I’m okay, but they never think about the sins of the mind. And they don’t mind that if they get bitter and hateful and filled with jealousy and envy and just hateful.

But they don’t see that as that bad. And yet that’s what the Lord says. So they can keep their salvation if they don’t do too bad, too long. But He makes it so they can lose it so they never know when they’ve lost their salvation. So they deceived themselves, but not only do they deceive themselves, they deceive other people into believing the same thing. And if it’s one thing for an individual to say, well, it doesn’t hurt nobody but me.

But if you die and you go to hell and you taught other people to believe what you believe and they go to hell. Is it affecting only you? So there’s false teachers who teach false things and they are believed. People believe it and there is a consequence. So look what he says. Verse 15, therefore is no great thing if his minister. So you know and I know that Satan has his ministers and his ministers are ministers of righteousness, but it’s human righteousness, not the righteousness of God, but it’s the righteousness of man.

And so they will teach that, you know, you have to do something. They always use the word your trusting Christ, but, and then they butt it all over the place. They’re not really trusting Christ. They’re they’re depending upon their works for their salvation, because bad works cost them their salvation. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Matthew chapter seven, Matthew and chapter seven. Matthew chapter seven, you’ve seen these verses an awful lot, but I want you to see this, they’re in verse 15.

Beware of false prophets. Today we would say beware of false preachers. Are there false preachers on radio and television? I don’t believe y’all said that. And there’s false preachers behind the pulpit. How do you know I’m not? You’re going to have to check with the book. And if you don’t know your Bible, I could teach you anything. But if you know the book, you judge and discern whether the knot, is that right or is that wrong? And many people in many churches cannot listen to other preachers on radio or TV or in other churches because they cannot discern whether they’re right or they’re wrong.

And they just go by, oh, the choir was so great. Air condition padded pews. Lazy boy chairs, they’ll sit in. I thought about, we ought to go to that, you know, have lazy boy chairs. And then have the ladies come in here with a little lemonade please, a little lemonade coffee, too. I bet we could really increase the attendance, you know, doing something like that. And then of course if you want to have a donut while we’re eating, you know.

Gary’s all favor for that. I mean, I’m here back here, right now, it’s licking his chops. in verse 15, be aware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing. It means they’re disguising themselves. They’re trying to give you the impression that they are a sheep, but what are they? They are a wolf. It means they come to devour you, to make merchandise of you, to use you. They don’t care about your soul. They don’t love you. People who are not saved by grace, are trying to earn their way to heaven.

So you are only a means of them trying to earn their way to heaven. You’re not the object of their love. It’s themselves. Because they have to do certain things to try to merit or deserve to go to heaven when they die. But anyway, in verse 16, you shall know them, the false teachers, the false prophet by their through by their message. And you must compare their message with the message of grace. And the message of grace, the gospel is that it must be free and it must last forever.

If it’s not free, it’s not the gospel. If it doesn’t last forever, it’s not the gospel. See how simple it is? So if you look there in verse 21, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but they are expecting to get in aren’t they? They are expecting something that will never happen. Why? Because some false teachers convinced them of this. To me I think murder is a great crime. I think adultery is a great crime.

Raping is a a great crime. There’s a lot of things that are just terrible in our world. But to me, one of the worst crimes that anybody can ever do is to give somebody a false hope, a false message on how to go to heaven. And then a person who believes that false message spends an eternity in hell forever. That’s worse than anything else than anybody else could ever do to anyone. That’s what I think is going to be greater judgment because people added to the Word of God and said that God said and God said, I didn’t say that.

And so he says in verse 22, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, many, not a few, many. So there must be more people that are trusting in their works. And why are they trusting in their work? Because somebody doesn’t understand grace because they don’t know it’s free. And there’s people that don’t understand the gospel and there’s false teachers and They’re leading people astray and there’s a great Price to pay for what is being done. I Think it’s a shame it really is Now if you read this and It says in the last part of this verse verse 23 Then will I profess unto them?

I never knew you. Now that you were saved once, but now you’re not saved anymore. Cause he says, I never knew you. So that 10 year old boy, if he got saved and never got lost and go to hell, if he ever was saved, then God knows him as his child. He knows he believed. Well, if he can sin and then lose his salvation, then how can Jesus say, I never knew you? So no saved man can ever get lost.

Because it would be impossible for Jesus to say, I never know you. You see, one of the things about going to heaven is when you can say, I know the Lord. And the other side of that is, the Lord knows me. And he says, and we have this confidence, this foundation, this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are His. the Lord knoweth them that are His. So if that 10 year old boy ever belong to the Lord, then he must still belong to the Lord.

And if this 50 year old man, trust Christ is Savior, then God knows Him and God can never lose Him because God can’t say, I never knew you. So I can’t go to hell in the future. Once the Lord knows you and you know Him, it’s forever. You’re his child forever. Now wolves in sheep’s clothing try to get a person to focus upon their life, their works, because Satan knows the only thing that ruins grace is works. And not one work of man can save himself.

I’ve heard people say, you know, and I asked the Lord to help me. When I saw I couldn’t save myself, I asked the Lord to help me. I’ve heard people make this statement. I’ve heard preachers make that statement. I don’t need him to help me get to heaven. I need him to take me to heaven without my help. He doesn’t need my help. He doesn’t want my help because then it means that I have a part in saving myself.

Jesus is not someone who comes alongside of me to help me live good enough to get to heaven. Now, he’s a paraclete. He does come alongside. He is a comforter to help me, to lead and guide me, and all these things like that. But not to save me. He saved me by himself. He had by himself purged us by himself. He didn’t need my help. He don’t need your help. Salvation is truly just what it says it is, the gift of God.

Now, take your Bible and turn over there to the book of Matthew chapter 23. Matthew chapter 23, this is a very interesting person of scripture because you’re talking to religious people, religious people. And he’s talking here and says in verse 1, then speak Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples, saying the scribes and the Pharisees said in Moses’ seed. In other words, they judge, make decisions, all that stuff. But He makes a statement over here in verse 13.

He says, but woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, and get this, for ye shut up the kingdom of God against men. In the word what they said, and the way they lived, they violated the word of God. They added to the Word of God and corrupted the Word of God and made their traditions the commandments of God. And so Jesus pulls no punches. He gets right between the eyes. And He makes His statement, for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you or permit ye them that are entering to go in.

There’s people who want to go in. people, but because he says, you have blinded, you have deceived, you have lied, and you said, God said, and God didn’t say that. And notice what he says in verse 14, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites. He says, for ye devour at widows’ houses, for a pretense, make long prayers, so that people can see you, you do it to be seen of men, And they’ll think it’s your holy and you walk around in certain guard, but you’re supposed to do.

But he says, you have added so many more laws. It made it so hard upon the people. If you look down there in verse four, he says, for they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born, lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. but all their works they do for to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments, love the uppermost rooms at fees and the chief seats in the synagogue.

They do it all to be seen. They want people to look up to them as though we’re some great thing and he says, you shut the door to yourselves and others that you could have made a difference. Look what he says here in verse 15. He’s in verse 15, whoa under you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. He says, for ye compass, see, and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Not only have you taught this person a lie, but now that person will teach a lie. And lies are being told. And people are not being told the truth. This is what makes Calvary Community Church so important. This is what makes our radio broadcast so important. You say, well everybody’s got the same message. No they don’t. Not all churches are the same. Not all preachers are the same. You’ll find there’s a lot of preachers that can preach circles around me better, but you can’t find one preacher that’s got a better message than what I’ve got.

Because the gospel, is powerful. If you just tell it like it is, make it clear, make it simple. These teenagers are learning something at a very young age that most adults never catch. Not only to know the clarity of the gospel but how to present the gospel and if you do they get results. But what if all adults did what some of these teenagers are doing. We could turn the world upside down. They did it in the New Testament time.

And it says that they did this and they spread the Word. But most people don’t want to spread the Word. They’re scared. Or they live in their own little world. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Now is the day of salvation. Now must be the time to share the gospel and to give it. But look what he says in that last verse again in verse 16. Woe unto ye blind guides. Would you like to take a tour and have a blind guide?

I mean, would you like to take a trip in a car and go to Georgia and Tom soaks be your driver? Sorry about that, Tom. But he can’t see. Why follow a guy that can’t see? If a man doesn’t know for sure he’s going to heaven, why would you want to listen to him. And yet there’s people that will support missionaries and things like that and false teachers and they get all the money they want and somebody that’s clear in the gospel, sometimes you always have to ask for help and let people know and say, look, we’re trying to reach people for the gospel and you have to plead with people.

You think, man, if you found somebody that would make the gospel clear, man, let’s get the people out to hear it. That’s what we used to do would ranch. The kids will always bring kids to ranch because they know if when they got to ranch they knew that we would give the gospel. Every week we’d give the gospel. In church we try to always give the gospel. So that if a lost man is listening he should know how to get to heaven.

When a person comes to church they ought to know how to get to heaven. That is a gift and that is free. So even at the end of the service whenever we’re closing it down. Did you know that’s where we were headed all along? All the singing, the specials, the preaching, all is focused upon probably the last five minutes of the service. You’re trying to get a person to make decisions. Mainly a lost man to trust the Lord. And a Christian to serve the Lord.

So there’s only those two things, winning and training. And so that’s why it’s so important. I want you to take your Bible and look there in verse 24. Look in verse 24 of Matthew chapter 23 and it says here in verse 24, ye blind, ye blind guides which strain at a net, swallow a camel. You can’t tell me God doesn’t have a sense of humor. He says, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

But thou blind Pharisee cleansed first that which is within the cup and the platter that the outside of them may be clean also.” You see, when a person is doing their best to earn their salvation by their works. They go by what men see of them. And so they try to deceive you and look at me because of what I’m doing the way I am, I must be right. And they’re trying to earn their way to heaven, but they don’t look on the inside of themselves.

He says, first, get the inside taken care of and the outside should take care of itself. Have you ever heard that little statement like when you go fishing? Yeah, we catch him, he clean them. We catch him, he can clean them. I can’t clean fish. In reality, I don’t like to clean fish. I don’t mind eating the fish, but I really don’t like cleaning fish. I love it when we go fishing and somebody else cleans them. Isn’t that wonderful?

But I like to catch them. I don’t even mind if they put the worm on the hook. I do want to have a part in it so I cast it. And I don’t mind getting them into the boat. But when you get close, I want somebody else getting that and getting that and getting that. So there’s things that you can love about the Lord’s work and there might be some things you don’t like but we’re workers and Labors together as we work in the vineyard But look at this he’s talking about the inside in the outside the person who believes they can lose their Salvation is always about the sins that somebody can see that’s really bad The ones on the inside of them how they think and feel their motives their bitterness, their hatred, all those things like that.

See, you can’t see all of that sometime it comes through though. But they don’t think that that’s that bad. And yet they think they’re going to heaven because of how pure they’re living their lives. And that they’re so good and they’re so holy they become hippo crits. All people who believe you can lose your salvation and are going to church trying to live good enough are hypocrites. Am I making myself clear? I didn’t write the Bible, but this is talking about people that do the very same thing that people are doing today.

This, if Christ was here today, this is what He would still say about the religious people that are trying to save themselves by their works. They deceived themselves and then they do everything to make one little proselyte and then they teach that person to teach somebody else to full child of hell and it just multiplies. So unless somebody teaches the truth then they will not know. Luke what he says here in verse 27, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are like unto white encephalus.

You know what a seperica is? It’s a grave. It’s a grave, a casket, open it up full of dead men’s bones. White encephalus, which indeed appear on the outside, beautiful outward. You know who he’s talking about? He’s talking about people that are trying to save themselves by their works. And people who are trying to earn their way to heaven because they don’t trust Christ as their Savior and they don’t see how bad they really are. They actually, there’s people who think they’re saving themselves because they’re good enough.

They think they are. They are deceived and they will fight for their belief just as much as you’ll fight for your belief. And they’ll believes that they’re right. Look what else she says, but are within full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness. So in verse 28, even so ye also outwardly appear righteous on the men. You appear righteous on the men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. This is how God sees them. So there are people who do not see and understand just how bad they really are.

That’s why we talk about having a holy God, a perfect God. Heaven is a perfect place and that you must be perfect to enter into heaven and people don’t understand they’re not perfect. They think they’re pretty good but everybody ought to understand they’re not perfect. And so to go to heaven you have to be as perfect, as righteous, as just as holy as God. Only by seeing the Lord, can you see how far short you have come? The word, harmatano means to miss the mark, miss the mark of perfection.

You and I have all come short of God’s righteousness and we need to be justified, just as if I have never sinned. So how can I get to where I look like I have never sinned? Only by his righteousness been given to me. So, when I believe that Christ died on the cross, paid for my sins, He gives me His righteousness as a free gift, I get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for me. And God said, if I believed that He did it for me, He would give me as a free gift everlasting life and I get to go to heaven.

And that is a gift. So the ten-year-old boy, if a person is ten years old, can God save a ten-year-old? Sure. Can God save a man that’s 50? Yeah. Can God save a man that’s 90? Yeah. See, God can save anybody. I talked to a man this week. He says, you don’t know how many people I’ve killed. He’d like to say that to me. He says, you don’t know how many people I’ve killed. But anyway, I kept talking to him.

It wasn’t long before he trusts me. to learn. To hit people understand, He paid it all for everybody. So, regardless of who you are and whatever you’ve done or ever will do, God can save anybody at any time. All that they have to do is believe that when He died on the cross, He paid for their sins. Or you might believe He paid for the sins of the world, but that doesn’t get you to heaven. You He must believe He did it for me.

Christ died for my sins so that I don’t have to pay for my sins. Because if He paid for them, I don’t have to. And so all that I have to do is believe He did it for me and He puts that payment to my account. And I go to heaven on what He did and He says, I will in no wise ever cast you out. He said, He will never lose you. He said that no man can pluck you out of my hand.

See the word of God says that whenever you trust Him as your Savior, you’re saved from hell. It means you can’t go there. Two in inheritance that’s incorruptible and undefiled, that faith, if not a way, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith and desalvation. you put your faith in Christ to save you. He saves you forever and reserves for you a place in heaven and will never cast you out and never lose you.”

Now buddy, that’s some pretty good news. That’s what we have. Let’s pray, shall we? Our Father, we thank you so much for all you’ve done for us. We’re thankful for the free gift of eternal life. We pray, Lord, that You’d help us to be found faithful to the clarity, the truth of the gospel. And Lord, we know that there’s a lot of people that’s never heard. So whether it’s the teenagers or the adults or whether the preachers, we preach, and so people believe, we ask your blessings upon the service today and that as different ones listen, we pray that they would understand that the only thing they can do is to trust Jesus Christ and Him alone is their only hope of going to heaven.

And Father, we ask Your blessings upon the service to follow, that Father, should anyone come in these doors and have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news on how they can be justified by faith alone. We pray, Lord, they would hear it, and that would be found faithful in presenting it, and that people would come to know You as their Savior. We pray, Lord, that you’d help us to point out the era of the false teachers, those that are hypocritical, the Pharisees that add works to salvation.

And even though they may mean well, it’s a damning message. And Father, we thank you for this church and these good people and all that you’ve done for us in Christ’s name we pray, Amen. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you are blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline 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. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our home page at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the radio broadcast link. If you are 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 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.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, and 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.