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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 concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family. Now did Christ dial the cross and paper all the sins of all the world? Yes. And all that we have to do is believe He did it for us because it says it’s not by your works. So you got to leave that out. It means how you live doesn’t determine where you go.

You got to forget that. That’s null and void because it says not by works of righteousness which we have done. Not of works. So forget your works. That means how you live. I’ve had has nothing to do with where you’re going to spend eternity. And that’s what blew my mind when I was 18 years old. I argue with my father-in-law for three months ago, I said, there’s got to be more to admit. That’s too easy. That’s too simple. And I thought, if it’s so simple, why can’t everybody see it?

I had a hard time seeing it, and I wasn’t even raised in church. But to just simply think that I can go to heaven by just trusting what Christ did on the cross for me blew my mind. And yet there was no tricks to it, no gimmicks to it. I didn’t have to become a religious hypocrite, claiming to be something that I knew down deep inside I wasn’t. But I wanted to go to heaven. I want to have eternal life.

I didn’t want to go to hell. But see, nobody had ever stopped that explained how I could be certain of going to heaven when I die. And that was the best news I ever heard in my whole life. I want you to take your Bible and look at a verse with me. Look there in Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8 and 9.

And look how important this is, even though you said, well, I already know those two verses, well, look at it anyway. You know, sometimes you can read a verse and not understand the verse. You can read it, quote it, and never really understand it. I had read John 3 16, the night I got saved, and didn’t understand the word of it, until the man explained it to me. You saw anybody out on the stand. I know, but I didn’t.

And I find there’s a lot of people that do the same thing. See there in verse eight, four by grace are ye saved. Saved as past tense. See this is already written to somebody who is saved, not somebody who is going to be saved. It means you already are. So I’m not expecting to be saved from hell. What? We already am. I can’t go there. Because see if he hasn’t saved me from going there, it means I still could go there.

And God says, I can’t go there. Why? Because I’ve been saved from it. It’s a past done deal. And He says this, for by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves? Now what part of not of yourself would you not understand? Not of yourself means it’s not of yourself. That’s in the Greek. Well see, it’s all depending on how you read it. Okay, well here’s how I read that. that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

I read that is the gift of God. See, I don’t have to translate, it’s already been translated. All God does is believe what’s already been written. It’s the gift of God. People can’t believe that going to heaven is a gift. This gift is free. It means I don’t have to go to church to get it. I don’t have to give money to get it. I don’t have to change my life to get it because all that would be I’d required to do something to get it.

Then it costs me something. There is no cost. There’s no price to pay. It’s free, free. The gift, not of yourself, it’s the gift of God. So being saved and going to heaven is something that I can have now. For my grace are you saved, I’m saved. Past Him, I’m saved. I’ve been saved, I’ve been saved for 51 years. So if I am saved, then I’m not seeking to be saved. Because if I’m seeking to be saved, I’m saying that I am not saved.

If I’m going to call right on me, that I’m not there yet. How can I say it any other way? Surely you can understand what I’m saying. Am I hard and complicated? Can you follow what I’m saying? You can follow me. So God says here in verse 9, look at those three words, not of what? What? What works do you think he’s talking about? Not of works. Not of works would probably mean not of works. It means nothing that I do.

determines where I go. And this is why so many people can’t believe that it’s free, because they can’t believe that God would save them by grace. You don’t deserve that. But what is grace? Grace means unmerited favor. God given you something you didn’t deserve. I don’t deserve to go to heaven. I never have. I never will. You see, God saved me because He loved me because He sent His Son to pay for all of my sins, and I accepted Him as my Savior.

He gives me to her life, and I go to heaven whenever I die. Otherwise, nobody can know they’re going to heaven until they die. If it’s not free and you have to earn it, it’s only two ways. That means if you have to earn it, you have to wait till you die to find out if you got it or not. Well, you can wait till then if you want to. I think it’s a little late Because God’s going to tell you, you see, you’re either saved by grace or works, and you didn’t trust Christ as your Savior, so you didn’t accept grace.

So that means you’re trying to save yourself by your works. And I already told you it’s not by your works. I don’t know why you waited so long to get here to find this out. I told you in my Word, didn’t you ever read Ephesians 2, 8, and 9? I said it very clearly, you’re not saved by your works. Now why are you trying to think you’re going to get into heaven by your works? I can see all that taking place.

And yet there’s people that don’t see it, they never get it. Now take your Bible and look in the book of Titus chapter 3. Titus and chapter 3. Titus chapter 3, this is on page 1284. And you’ll notice there in verse 5. 953, look at what he says, not by works of righteousness, which we have done. But according to His mercy, He what? Saved us. That’s a done deal. It’s already done. So I have been saved not by my works of righteousness.

And yet you find people that think, you’ve got to do something. I’ve had people say, you can’t tell me and you sure can’t. God can’t tell them either. You can’t tell me that all you have to do is believe. And yet what is the only requirement for going to heaven? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that who so ever… Believe it. Won’t perish but have everlasting life. He that believeth on the Son half life and He that believeth not the Son of God half not life.

But the wrath of God abides upon Him. He didn’t believe it on him is not condemned, but he didn’t believe it not is condemned already because he believed it not. You see, it all boils down to do you believe it or not. You say, what do I got to believe? Here you are, you’re a senator. You do all these bad things. You deserve to go to hell. Christ in his son. Christ comes into the world. He got to any son.

So Christ comes into the world and he had no sense, so he doesn’t have to die. So he vauded in your place. He dies for all of your sins. And see what people don’t get is this. It is appointed under every man, wants to die and act this to judgment. So if you’re only going to die once, regardless of how many sins you commit, how many times do you die? One time. So if Christ dies for you, He only has to die one time for you.

So that means that even though I lived 70 years and then I croaked. Okay, well, how many times did I die? Only one time. Me for all those sins, but it doesn’t matter how many sins. I only died once. Christ only died once to pay for all the sins of all the world. So that means if He died for me, He paid for all of my sins. He died in my place. So if I died 20 years ago, or if I died 20 years in the future, he died for me in my place.

And all that I have to do is believe he did it for me. He did it for me. Christ. So I don’t have to pay my sins. The whole body is going to die in the grave when these things happen. But I have a new birth. I’m going to live till I die. Then I’m going to live forever. I sure am. Look at this verse again. into the Holy Spirit. See the new birth is by the Spirit of God.

That’s a new birth. It didn’t come because you went to church and you live right and you try to go according to Christian principles and you lived, all these ways and so on. That’s not gonna get you to heaven. You gotta never promise that. And so that’s why it’s deceptive on your part to try to think you could ever save yourselfossibility by the things that you do. Eternal life is truly a gift of God. You see, let her be there, or says justification from all my sins.

I want you to look at this. Look in Acts chapter 13, the book of Acts in chapter 13. So very, very important verse. Acts chapter 13 and look in verse 38. Be it known unto you therefore, man and brethren, that through this man, talking about Christ, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. See if God forgives you of your sins, there’s none for you to pay for it. Or if He forgave you. So when Christ died for you and you believe He forgives you of everything you’ve ever done, your sins are forgiven.

So that means you don’t have to pay for them. I don’t have to pay for my sins. Christ did it for me. That’s hard for me to accept because when I was growing up, I was always under the impression, If I’m good, I’ll go to heaven. And if I’m bad, I’m gonna go to hell. I didn’t know that, and understand that Christ paid for my sins. So that’s why for years, I did my best. I wanted to go to heaven, so I tried to live right.

I tried to live a good life. I tried to be a good kid. I really did. But I didn’t understand. And so whenever I was growing up as a kid, before I even knew anything about it, I never took a drink in my life. I was always afraid I might like it. And I didn’t want to become a drunk. I never smoked a cigarette because I was told it was bad for you. So I never smoked a cigarette. I never swore cuss word.

And I’m almost seven years old. I still haven’t done none of those things. Am I going to heaven because I’m so good? No. By your righteousness, you’re never good. You have to be perfect to go to heaven. And nobody’s perfect. That’s why nobody can earn eternal life. Nobody works their way to heaven. No man has ever lived good enough to save himself. All people have to be saved the same way by grace. Either God saves you or you don’t get saved.

And if you trust Christ today’s your Savior, He saves you today. If you get saved tomorrow, then He saves you tomorrow. If He saves you 10 years ago, He got saved you 10 years. But whatever is He, you don’t have to seek something you already have. He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. See, the reason I don’t have to try to get eternal life is because I already have it. The Bible says, this is the true God referring to Christ.

This is the true God and eternal life. When you have Christ, you have eternal life because Jesus Christ is eternal life. And when I trust that Christ is my savior, the Bible says the Holy Spirit of God dwelt inside of me. And if I’ve got Christ, I’ve got eternal life. And he said, I’ll never leave you, and I’ll never forsake you. Never leave you. Never forsake me. Never. Never means never. And he is eternal life. So how long will I have eternal life?

Forever. Forever. That’s the only way you can know that you’re gonna make it someday. I know I’m going to go to heaven. I don’t have to hope and guess and wonder. I can’t lose something because I didn’t earn it to get it. And you see, if God can save me at the end of my life, by grace, why can’t He save me now by grace? And if God can save me now, in spite of all those bad things that I’ve done, why can’t He keep me saved, in spite of all the bad things I will do?

You say, well, you don’t deserve, I didn’t deserve that either. I didn’t deserve to be saved here because of all those bad things. And I’m not going to deserve to be saved after all these bad things. It doesn’t matter. Grace is grace. God loves me that way. You say, wait, don’t you think you ought to serve a Lord? Well, of course. I’ve been trying to serve a Lord the best I know how for 50 years. But that has nothing to do with me going to heaven.

I’m going to heaven because of his love for me. I serve him because of my love for him. And if you love the Lord, you want to live for the Lord, and you want to live a godly life. Whatever people tell you that you have to do and you have to live like this and go to church and pay and do money, I do all of that. I’ll go to heaven according to anybody’s religion, except God’s. I’m only going there because I trusted Christ as my Savior years ago.

And I say, only wait, see there in that verse, look in verse 39. And by Him Christ, all that do what? Believe. Are justified from what? All things. So all of these things that you need to be justified from, as though you didn’t do them, to be cleared. All you got to do is believe. I didn’t write this verse. But should I change it because I don’t agree with it? Should I alter it? Because I just can’t believe that.

Evidently God didn’t know what he was saying here. You don’t alter the word of God. You don’t change the book. God loves us so much. See, I’m not seeking to be justified because already am. I’m not seeking the gift of eternal life because I already am. I’m not trying to be a child of God someday. I already am. It’s a done deal. That was the best news I ever heard. And see once you trust Christ to save you and your God’s child.

Now there’s a few other things I do want you to see that you can’t expect and I’ll go through the very quickly. Psalm chapter 62 you can read that verse when you get a chance to but I want you to read those scriptures there. Because Because it’s simply saying that my expectation should be of the Lord. As you and I live our lives, the Lord is my sufficiency. He’s all I need. Remember that little song we sing, Christ is all I need.

He’s all I need. The Lord is all you need. But you see, you have to know that and understand that. But see, once you trust that Christ is your Savior and I have eternal life and I’m going to heaven whenever I die, well I haven’t died yet. I happen to have lived 51 years since I trust the Lord, but He’s still all I need. And if I put Him first, God said, You take care of the rest, and I trust Him to do that.

So you see here at letter A, 1 John 1, 9 says, God will forgive my sins when I fail. I believe that. I believe that as a child of God, when I don’t do the things that I ought to do, what I don’t think right, and when I commit things in my mind or actions, and I hurt somebody’s feelings and things like that, and bitterness or anger. I know that, I know, I know. My father, or wife, to slate clean, and I confess it to him.

You see, he does that because this is for fellowship between me and him. And I know that I can keep walking with the Lord. Do you know the perfect will of God lies as close as the next decision you make? If you only think about that. The next thing, first John chapter three, verse 22, God, I expect him to answer my prayers. I’m a child of God. I’ve got access to my Heavenly Father. And I know that my Heavenly Father, here’s the prayers of the righteous.

We spoke on this just last week about God answering our prayers. And some prayers that are be hindered because of sin between you and your Father. So God tells us, and I know that if I talk to the Lord and pray according to His wealth, I can expect God to hear. I can expect God to answer. We see it’s always desires of the will of God for my life. In Hebrews chapter 12, it talks about chasening. See, as a child of God, can I live as I please?

Yes, I can. Can I get away with it? No, I can’t because my Heavenly Father is going to chasen me and discipline me. So you can have children born into your family. It’s every time they do something wrong they get unborn? You wish. No. They’re still born and still of there and they’re still yours. But when they do something wrong, do you ever chase in your children? Correct them? It’s not because you hate them. It’s because you love them.

So you’re chasing your children. Why? Because they’re still yours. The only reason God can chase in me as his child is because I’m still his child. If every time I did something wrong, I’m not his child. Can’t touch me. I’m not yours. I wouldn’t try that. But because I’m a child of God, I know my Heavenly Father will chase me. I expect him to chase me, to beat the Torah to me, and he hasperialized the right to take me home early because of my rebellious attitude or spirit.

I can expect God to intervene. In 1 Corinthians 10, 13, I expect God to deliver me from temptation because he’s going to make a a wave escape. And if I look for the wave escape, I know God will deliver me from every trial, every temptation. Some of them he’ll let you go right through the middle of them on the trials, temptations he wants to deliver you from. The trials and tribulations, the hardships and things like any life, a lot of times he just wants to walk with you through it.

There’s thing he wants you to go through. There’s other thing he wants you to stay away from. God tempts no man to sin. God is not a sinner. He’s an tempt you to sin. That’s because of your own lust of your own heart, your own simple desires, not gods. First Peter chapter 4, where it says that you can expect, he says, think it not a strange thing concerning the fiery trial which is to try you because you’re going to suffer in this life.

You’re going to suffer. You see, in this, life, everything happens that causes us some sufferings. And we’re always trying to figure out a way to have some joy and peace and happiness in the midst of all of our sufferings. But sometimes it seems like your long dry spells. But you’re going to suffer. I expect my Heavenly Father. I expect Him to allow me to suffer. Whether it’s in the physical body or finances with people, I expect that I’m going to offend you.

I am not going to please everybody in here all the time. It is impossible. I know and I expect. I don’t have to desire it, but I expect it because it’s just reality. You married to that husband or that wife of yours? You ought to know right now. You are going to offend her or you’re going to offend him. You’re going to wrong each other. You can either forgive each other and love each other or murder each other. What a lot of people do.

Am I advocating you to go home and murder your wife? No. Don’t you try to put words in my mouth. But some of you are just looking for a reason. Don’t you use this preacher for that? The next one, God to comfort me when I sorrow. Do you expect God to comfort you when you sorrow? Because you’re going to sorrow. You’re going to hurt. You’re going to grieve. I don’t believe that Betty over here is enjoying watching her husband, Alex, laying in that bed, knowing that it won’t be long before he’s gonna leave this world.

She will grieve and she will hurt. And she’s gonna have sorrow. But she knows that and she can expect that. But I also expect God says He will comfort us why we sorrow and why we hurt and why we grieve. What lessons did God have to teach you yet? What are your expectations? I expect that whenever I leave this old world and I get to be with the Lord in heaven, I expect God to reward me when I get to heaven.

Rewards are earned. Rewards are things that God gives to me because of what I did. See, after I trusted Christ as my Savior, going to heaven, that was free. That was what he did for me. And as I live my life because of what he did for me, I know that when I get to heaven, God’s gonna reward me. And I expect God to keep his word and God will keep his word. And in closing, I do expect, I expect it, cause it’s real.

I expect the devil to fight me every step of the way. Don’t you? So that means you know that he’s gonna come at you. One way or the other, any way you can. He’ll do it to the husband, to the wife, to the kids, to the aunts and the uncles and in-laws and outlaws. He’s going to come at you some way. And he’s not going to ever leave you alone. He wants to cause you to question and doubt that the Bible is true or that God can save you by grace.

He wants you to question and doubt everything. He started that in the Garden of Eden with Adam, and even he ain’t stopped yet. Jesse was telling you about this little wallet of the illustration and said, what was that? I’m glad you asked. Let me show you. This is you and me. Wallach, this is sin. God says that we have all, we’ve all sinned. Now God says that He loves us, but He hates what we do wrong, but He loves us.

And for us, we gotta pay for that. We committed a sin, we ought to pay for it. We owe it dead. And the payment is eternal separation from God in hell. So everybody’s in the same boat. Nobody’s any better than anybody else. God loves us and wants us to go to heaven, go to heaven, you’ve got to be perfect, because righteous is God. And there’s the problem. None of us are perfect. And so you see, the only way you can be in heaven is to be perfect.

And we’re not perfect. So how are we going to be perfect by our works? Impossible can’t happen. So God says, your works are as filthy rags, all of your righteousness. So don’t even try to offer to God. Lord, I go to church, I sing and acquire, I do this, I do that, I give money. That has nothing to do with nothing. Zero, the people that only get that, yet in the back of most people’s minds, well, I’ll do it just in case.

It means you don’t believe what God said. It means you don’t really believe what God says. You can’t earn it. Don’t try. Don’t try to give him a quarter for a Mercedes. They cost more than that. This ain’t represent Jesus Christ. He’s God in the flesh. He came into the world because he loves us. Our sin because it separates us from him. So Jesus Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die. So He took all of our sins of the whole world.

Paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead. And God says if you and I, if we would believe that He did it for us, He’d put that payment that I owe. He put it to my account. My debt is paid. My sins are forgiven. But the payment’s not put to your account till you believe that He did it for you. And the moment you believe it, He saves you from hell. It means that from this point on, you can’t go there.

You’ve been saved from it. And He’ll never cast you out, never lose you. You go to heaven because of what He did for you. He loves you that much. And God says, these things have I written unto you? That believe, on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. Can you know you have eternal life? The best news in all the world. There’s no gimmicks to it. You don’t have to join this church to go to heaven.

You don’t have to give any money to go to heaven. You don’t have to change your life. You just need to admit to God, you’re a sinner. Everybody knows it anyway. You might as well admit it. God already knows it. So it’s just a matter of being honest. I’m a sinner and you can’t save yourself. That’s why you need a savior. Christ is the only one. You eat the trust, Him, and go to heaven, or you reject Him, and you’ll spend eternity separated from God in hell.

I pray that your trust, Christ, is your Savior. Let’s pray, shall we? If you hear this morning, say, preachers, that made sense to me. I realize that I’ve never really trusted Christ as my Savior. Friends, you can be religious all your life and never really trust the Lord. I’m not God. I can’t save anybody. I can only tell you what his book says. I can only tell you that if you trust Christ, he will save you and give you eternal life as a freak yet.

Would you trust him? Would you just talk to the Lord? You see, I’m gonna ask you in just a moment to raise your hand, raising your hand doesn’t save you. It just lets me know that what I said made sense to you. And I just wanna know if what I said made sense to you and you say, yes, I will trust Christ as my savior this morning. So in the quietness of this moment, is there anyone who says, yes, I will trust Christ as my only hope of going to heaven and break child life for you to pray for me?

Would you sleep in it very quickly and better right back down? Anyone at all? Many of you have already trusted Christ of Savior. I know that. But there may be someone that’s never trusted. Our Father, we thank You so much for this time together. We thank You Lord for each person here. And Lord, I pray that each one will understand to put their expectations in the Lord. Thank you for this time together. Bless each person in Christ and 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 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. live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.