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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 by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I am preaching today on the subject, saved, saved, saved. So how can you be saved three times? Well, that’s what I want to tell you about. I knew you was curious. In your notes, I have a little topic called the two basic beliefs for Christians. To always keep it in mind is salvation and service. Salvation, simple, service, a little bit more complex. But one is dealing with how you get to heaven. And there are three tenses to our salvation.

We’re saved, saved, saved. And to that I want to address. If you look at number one, the three tenses of salvation, past tense, present tense, and future tense. So I am saved. I’ve been saved. I am being saved. And one day I will be saved. Now a lot of people take that to me. Well, I finally got on the right road and now I’ve got to keep working for my salvation. And I, if I keep hanging in there and walk that straight and narrow way, one day in the future, I will be saved.

Now I’m not talking about that stuff. That’s junk. I ain’t talking about that. I’m talking about saved, saved, saved. So will you explain that I’m going to just be patient But here in the Bible in Acts 16 look there in Acts chapter 16 and verse 31 tremendous portion of Scripture We often hear it called the story of the Philippian jailer Look at in verse 25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed saying praises unto God and the prisoners heard them.

I wonder where they were. They were in prison. Have you ever wanted a jail ministry? This is amazing. We do everything we possibly can to stay out of jail. I think that greatest day of our lives is going to be when God puts some of us in jail. You, I’ll come and visit you. In verse 26, and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were open and everyone’s bands were loosed and the keeper of the prison awakened out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open he drew out his sword and would have killed himself supposing that the prisoners had been fled but Paul said it into him or cried with a loud voice do thyself no harm but we’re all here then he called for a light and spring and he came trembling and fell down before

Paul and Silas and brought them out and says sirs what must I do to be saved now if there’s any question that deserves a good answer, this is the right question. Because he asked the right question. He even asked the right question to the right person because he knew how to be saved. But look what he said. Now if you’re going to give an answer, you ought to give the truth of an answer. If you’re going to tell the truth, it ought to be the truth.

This is it. And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, keep the Ten Commandments, go to Calvary Community Church, pay 50% and behave yourself for the rest of your life and you might make it. Now that’s the way most people read that verse and you’ll be saved until you sin again. They had all that stuff in it. That ain’t what he said. All he said was, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. And if your house belemed it, they’ll be saved.

So they went there and preached the gospel of them and all of them believed it. So all they had to do to be saved was to believe on the Lord. Trusting Christ as their Savior. Because God, he made a promise that if you believe it, then He would save you and give you eternal life. Isn’t that what He said? He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I have eternal life. Because 50 years ago I accepted Christ as my Savior.

Now turning your Bible to the book of Ephesians in chapter two. Ephesians chapter two. Now these verses are tremendous. They’re my two favorite verses in the Bible. Ephesians two, eight and nine. Here in Ephesians chapter two verse eight and nine. For by grace are you saved through faith. Are you saved? That’s past it. That’s a done deal. So I have been saved. So when we say I have been saved, it means that I have been saved from the penalty of sin.

It means that I won’t have to go to hell and pay for my sins. I’ve already been saved from that. I have known for over 50 years that I’m going to heaven whenever I die, because see, I can’t go to hell. I can’t go there and pay for my sins because I’ve already been saved from hell. It’s a done and God can’t change that because He gave His Word. He said, if I trusted Him, He would save me. He is the Savior of the world, but He’s not yours until you trust Him.

So I trusted Him and He has become my Savior. So I have been saved, saved from the penalty of sin. So anyone who trusts Christ as Savior, that’s what we mean by being saved. means you’re saved from something. One of the things that I noticed over there is that three times that I’ve preached in three different churches, the one time that I preached a little stronger on hell and why we need to be saved. Why tell people you need to be saved if they don’t know what they need to be saved from?

Don’t that make sense? You gotta have, what am I being saved from? So there’s churches today and preaches today that don’t wanna say anything about hell because that makes people feel uncomfortable. Well, blessed be God, how can you talk to him about being saved then? How can you ask that you need to be saved? For what? Unless they understand there’s a literal fire burning hell. And you need to be saved from that. So in the one meeting on a Thursday night, and you had all these kids, I mean a lot of kids, I wanted those kids to know that there is a place called hell.

And I’ve explained it a little bit more in more in detail because I wanted them to make sure they understood that if I don’t trust Christ as my Savior, there is an alternative. I mean, there is a result. There’s consequences to not trusting the Lord. And so that by the time I got through and I explained to them how to have eternal life and why they need to trust Christ as their Savior because there is a literal hell, that’s when it was this like a one big sweep the whole room and all of it one time.

At two churches, I didn’t elaborate on it long enough. And if I could do it over again, I would do it again and I would sit stronger. But it never even came into my mind until after I got through, I talked, yes, about being saved. I gave the gospel and so forth and I would need to trust the Lord. I explained all of that, but I didn’t make it real enough into the people’s minds. So I think that I need to get better at it.

I need to realize there’s something that’s behind all of it. I don’t need a Savior if there’s no place to be saved from. And so whenever you trust Christ to save you, you’re saved from hell to an inheritance. It’s incorruptible and undefiled that fate if not away reserved in heaven for you. So I know that when I trust Christ is my Savior, I’m being saved from something to something. So I have been saved from the penalty of sin. I’ll look there at this next statement.

Present tense, I am being saved from the power of sin in my life. So I have been saved from hell. I’ve been saved from the penalty of sin. In my life, I want you to understand this. When God saved you, He did not do away with your sinful nature. You still have a sinful nature. That’s why you still think wrong and do wrong and make mistakes and all kind of stuff. We have wrong actions, wrong thoughts, wrong words. That’s because we still have an old sinful nature.

Dwelling within us. But the day you trusted Christ as your Savior, say the Holy Spirit of God lives within you and your body becomes the temple of God. Now the Holy Spirit living within you is to teach you the word of God to give you the power that you need over the power of the old sinful nature. You see, whenever you’re born in the world, you have an old sinful nature. God didn’t change it. That’s why you still have the desire to do things that are wrong.

Even though you’ve been saved from the penalties and you can’t go to hell now. For all eternity, you can’t go to hell. Never have to worry about that again. But in my life, maybe God will give me 10 years to live. Maybe 15 years to live. For me, it’s been almost 51 years that I’ve had to live since I trusted Christ as my savior. Well, God also, at the moment I trusted him as my Savior, gave me the indwelling Holy Spirit, who is the power of God that I need in my life because he’ll teach me what the Word of God says, so I’ll know what’s really right and really wrong, based upon what God says and not left upon my own imagination to decide.

It’s what God’s Word says, and that’s the truth. So the Bible says that I am to be saved in my present life from the power of the sin, for nature that I have, only by the divine nature that He gave me. So when I trusted Christ as my Savior, God gave me the Holy Spirit. That’s also along with the divine nature that helps me over the sinful nature, so that I have power in my life, not to let the sins of the nature that I have overrule and ruin my testimony.

So I am in my life being saved from the power of sin in my life. So I can say, yes, I have been saved from the penalty of sin. I am being saved in my Christian life as I walk with the Lord from the power of sin that’s still in my body. And one of these days whenever we leave the soul world, see this old body is going to die. And when the body is dead, the old sinful nature is in my body.

It’s not in my soul. God washed my soul wide as snow and made me spiritually alive. If you will, they’re looking Galatians in chapter one. I won’t just see the Galatians chapter one, first of all. Galatians in chapter one. Look in verse 4, in verse 4. Galatians chapter 1 verse 4, he says, Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory forever and ever, amen.

See, there’s this present evil world that we live in. I need the power of God in my life to help me to have victory over this present evil world that I live in. You see, there’s a world out there that says, let me, let me, let me, let me, let me, let me, desire me, want me, want me, want me. And there’s a word of God that says love not the things of the world, but the things of God.

Sit your affections on things that are above, not on the things that are below. So as a child of God, I don’t have the strength to do that, but by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, who gives me the power that I need, according to his word, and if you don’t study the word of God, you see, that’s what the Holy Spirit uses. The sword of the spirit is the word of God. And so when you study the word of God, you’re gaining the toll by which the Holy Spirit uses to give you the power that you need in various certain stances and will bring to your remembers the thing that you’ve studied but if you haven’t studied it you don’t know it you will have no power in your life you can have the Holy Spirit but the power that the Holy Spirit uses is the

Word of God and no word no power and that’s why many Christians are not powerful in their life they’ve already lost their testimony or been set on the shelf and not used by the Lord. And yet they may want to be, but they will not discipline themselves. So God says that we need to have this done. Look in verse 16 of chapter 5. Verse 16 of chapter 5. This I say then, walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Walking in the Spirit means yielding yourself to the power of the Holy Spirit as you read the Word of God and study the Word of God and you apply it to your life. It’ll give you the strength and grace that you need not to yield to the lust of the flesh. You still have the lust of the flesh. It’s still there. You can still think wrong but what can help me not to think wrong is thinking right but you got to know what’s right.

So you can rightly discern what the word of God is talking about. So you need the Holy spirit power in your Christian life. And that is to help you to save you from the presence of sin in your life, having power over your life and ruining your testimony. So God, yes, wants to save me from myself, from that old sinful nature that you have. And if you don’t walk with the Lord, you’re not going to have the victory in your Christian life that you what to have.

Now you see when you list down through here in verses 19 on down when he says the works of the flesh are blah blah blah blah. This is what walking in the spirit can save you from. It can save you from… otherwise if you don’t walk in the Spirit, yield yourself to the Lord, you will walk in the flesh and you will fulfill the lust of the flesh. Maybe not every one of these, but majority of them, yes you will, because God’s Word says so.

So if that’s not what you want, then you’re going to have to have an alternative. What can give you the power that you need over the desires of sin in this world? What is that restraint upon your life? And I believe the Holy Spirit within you causes you to restrain yourself. As it says in the book of 2 Corinthians in chapter 5, where he talks about in verse 14, for the love of Christ constraineth us. It means it motivates you.

It gives you the power that you need, so that you will do the things that God wants you to do, and not the things that the world wants you to do, wants you to do or the flesh wants you to do. So the world of God is good for it. Now look in verse 22. Verse 22 says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness and goodness and faith. This is what God wants you to have in your life.

Does that mean all of God’s children have this? No. No they don’t. Is it what God wants? Yes, because some Christians will not have any power of the Lord in their life. They’re saved, they’re going to heaven when they die, but there is no change in their life. Does that mean they’re not saved? No, no, it has nothing to do with that. They’re saved from hell because they accepted the payment Christ made on the cross for them. They believe what God said and they trusted Him.

That’s what keeps you from having to suffer in hell. But you may not have any change in your life. And still, yes, you’ll go to heaven because of what Christ did, not because of what you did. God didn’t save you based upon, well, you promise that you’re going to really change your life and deliver yourself from all these wicked things. No, God didn’t do that. There’s no prerequisite. It’s just believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

That’s from the penalty of sin. Now in your life, do you believe it’s God’s will that his children change their lives? I believe God wants there to be a change in my life. And I can say, yes, I am not the same guy that I used to be. Lord has done a work on me and in me and through me. If I had never become a preacher, I will still just as saved. And I’ll go to heaven just as quick as the apostle Paul or anybody else, because of what Christ did for me.

That’s getting to heaven, but I’m not there yet. In my life, I want the will of God in my life. I want there to be a change in my life. I want to grow stronger in my life. But I know I can’t grow strong without the word of God. Desire, the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. That’s the tool that the Holy Spirit uses in your life. That’s why I want you to come to Sunday School.

That’s why I want you in church. That’s why I want you here on Sunday night and Wednesday, when you can. And if you possibly can do it, because I want to feed you the word of God. Because I know there is no other power that can save you from the lust of the flesh or from loving the things of the world except the power that’s found in the Word of God. Are you getting my drift? Now follow me. Now, I can’t make you do anything and you know that.

I know that. Because if I was God, I would. But I’m not God, so I can’t. All I can do is tell you things. I have no power over you, no control over you. I’m not a dictator, I’m not God, I’m not the Holy Spirit, I’m just a man, just a man, just like you. But something happened to me when I was 18 years old. I started studying the Bible, and the Word of God got into me. And I began to think about how I began to think about this and that.

What I wanted to do with my life, what I wanted to accomplish, accomplish where I wanted to go. It began to really play tricks in my mind and I battled back and forth. The will of man versus the Word of God. And I’ll tell you, I fought some battles. But I’m so glad that I went ahead and just did what the Word of God said do. And now 50 years later, as I look back, I can see how God has blessed.

And it’s not because somebody’s better than somebody else’s because there’s somewhere along the line. The Holy Spirit works in your life. And you begin to grow a little bit, and you’re learning a little bit more, and you grow some more, and you wanna do something. You wanna accomplish something with you. You don’t wanna waste your life. You know that everything in this world is gonna pass away. It’s not gonna last. So why try to be able to mansion here?

It’s gonna pass. But what I accomplish for the Lord, that’s what’s important. That’s what’s important for you, and it should be. And I want you to see that look there in the book of Ephesians in chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2, look in verse 10. And verse 10 says, for we are His workmanship. He’s the one that saved you and now He wants to continue working on you. You see, He gave you eternal life. He’s already saved you from hell.

Now you’re going to heaven and He’s the one that’s doing the work. And he makes a statement, well we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. You see this is what God wants in your life. Now you may not perform. You still say from the penalty of sin, but you will not have the power that you need to be saved from the power of sin in your life. And that’s where a lot of Christians have ruined their life.

They’re ruined their testimony because they will not do what God wants them to do. And because of that, there’s a price to pay. But look at the last part of it. He says, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in that we should. Should. Not that you have to or that you will. Is it possible for a lost man to defy the will of God? Yes. God is not willing that any should perish. That means nobody’s going to perish?

No, they still will. Why? Because they can defy the will of God. But there’s a price for doing so. Can a Christian defy the will of God for his life? Yes. God wants us to perform these good words. That’s why He left us here. But you can say no. I ain’t gonna do it. Well, does that mean God’s not gonna keep His word and save you? No, because He’s… See, His promise was not based upon you. His word, based upon His word.

He promised. And He’ll never catch you out. He’ll never lose you for no reason. We go to heaven on what He promised. Not what we promise. But as a child of God, God said, if I would serve Him here, He said He would bless my life. Well, after 50 years, I should be able to look over my life and say, well, did He keep His word? Yes, He did. He’s done just like He said He would do. And I’m looking forward to the day when I get to heaven.

Because I believe I’m gonna see thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people that elected Christ over the years. But you see, that’s because somewhere along the line, you have to dedicate your life to him inside. I’m going to serve the Lord. So God wants to save us from the power of sin in our lives. Now, look at letter C. Talk about the future tense, the future tense. I will be saved from the very presence of sin when I die or when Christ returns for me.

Turning your Bible to the book of Romans in chapter 13. I want to see this verse. Romans in chapter 13. Romans chapter 13, I went to look there in verse 11. Verse 11 says, and that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation near than when we believed. So we believed his past tense. So salvation is near now. In other words, is this the result of, I’ve finally been good and I’ve been having myself and now God’s going to take me on home and I finally earned the right to go to heaven.

No, no, that’s not what he’s saying. See, I have been saved when I believed on Christ. God saved me and gave me the free gift of eternal life. I became his child. Now I can say this, it’s been 50 years ago. So now I am here 50 years down the line. But I can also say that now my salvation is near that when I believed. salvation of what? When I say no, no, no, no, no, no. See, I’m going to be saved one day from the very presence of sin.

I won’t be here. God’s going to take me out. God’s going to save me out of this world. It’s going to take me clean out of it. So I’m looking forward to my deliverance from this world and from the sin in the world. You see, I believe on Him and that saved from the penalty of sin. I am now being saved from the power of sin, and the day will come when we’ll be saved from the very presence of sin.

We won’t be in its presence anymore. And God says heaven, there is no unrighteousness there. That’s why not even a lie. No sin can enter heaven because heaven is a perfect place. So I have been saved, saved, saved. It ain’t all over yet, but it’s as good as done. Because when that takes place, I’m out of here. And I will not have this old body with this old sinful nature. I won’t have to worry anymore about having victory over the flesh and so forth.

The battle is over. All the war is over. I don’t know about you, but you can get mighty tired and weary in this old life. You can get weary and well doing. Doing right, but you get weary and God says, don’t become weary and well doing. For you, shall we, you’re going to reap. It’s just down the road. Just don’t worry about it. Just be patient. We’ll reap in this life what we sow. So down. The next thing to understand, this is about salvation.

You got that clear. Two things about the Christian that he needs to always remember. One is salvation. I have been saved, I am being saved, and I will be saved. That’s how simple that is. That’s your whole life. Now the next part is on service. On this thing about service to understand these three little simple things. Look there at number one, a letter A, Chastening. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 7, I want you to look at it real quick.

Hebrews and chapter 12. you trusted Christ as your Savior? Yes, your God’s child. You say, well, what if I don’t serve the Lord? Okay. God will not make you. Now He’ll make you wish you had of, but He won’t make you serve Him. But look what He says in verse 5, chapter 12 and verse 5. These are very important verses to understand. So in verse 5 He said, and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children.

My son despised not thou the chasting of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. Did you know that your heavenly Father who gave you birth, you’re his child born into his family and in this life. Now remember you’ve already been saved from the penalty of saying you ain’t going to hell. That’s an issue you don’t have to worry about again. But in my life to understand that if I do not serve God the way God wants me to servant, my heavenly Father says, I can choose to rebel, but he will choose the form of punishment.

Isn’t that fair? You can choose the sin and he can choose how to punish it. And you don’t know exactly when or how he’s going to do that. That’s the mysteries. God doesn’t tell us everything. And how God disciplines one person doesn’t mean he’s going to do another one the same way. Well, Well, I saw them do it and get away with it. Men every time I do something, I never get away with it. And I swear it’s been with my life.

Kids can do all kinds of mess up in school, but men, let me try it. One time I get nailed. I always get caught. I often wonder how come my mama, and you know, you say this, she had an eye in the back of her head. She had eyes in the back of her head. Well, she just knows her kids were both down to. But God is always watching, and He wants to bless us, but sometimes He has to chasten us because we refuse to do what God wants us to do.

You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tapp of Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can and reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing tool 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 homepage 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 broadcast 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.