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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 to be able to help you. 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.

So God is going to have, through Abraham, through Abraham, a seed down the road that would make a payment for the sins of the whole world through Christ. And the blessing is that a man would be justified by faith. This is what this is teaching, that a man is justified by faith and faith alone to be blessed of God. And nobody can get salvation by his works. No man. Now take your Bible and turn to Genesis in chapter 15.

in chapter 15. Genesis chapter 15 it says there in verse 2, Abraham has a problem. You see, he was 75 years old when the Lord told him to come out of the early counties and you know years are passing away and he said, I’ve got a problem. How do I know you’re going to keep your word? He said, I have to have a child. I have to father a child and I don’t have any. How is this going to work?

Abraham knew there’s a problem here because his body was already past the age of being able to have children. So what am I going to do? How is it going to happen? So he says there in verse 2, and Abraham said, Lord God, what will thou give me? See, I go chalice and the steward of my house is this eliaesar of Damascus. And Abraham and said, Behold, to me that is, that has given no seed, and lo, one born in my house is my near.

And behold, that word of the Lord came at him saying, this shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad and said, look now towards heavens and tell the stars count them, if thou be able, to number them. He said unto him, so shall thy seed be. That’s a promise from God. And so in verse six, he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness.

So his righteousness was put to his account and Abraham was justified by faith because he believed what God said about the seed and the seed is not seeds as of many but of the one which is Christ. So Abraham believed what God said about Jesus Christ coming into the world. So I believe that He understood just like you and I have to understand. And it’s mentioned here and explained very simply and very clearly. Now in Genesis I want you to look in chapter 17, chapter 17 and look there in verse 1.

And when Abram was 99 years old, 99 years old. He still does not have a child yet. He’s 99 years old. And God had promised him that he was going to have a son. So in verse 1, it says, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God. before me and be thou perfect of mature. And I will make my covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly. Neighbor, I’m fell on his face and God talk with him sin.

I’m going to change your name, made a covenant with him and blah blah blah blah. Then he says in verse seven, and I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after the in their generation for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And he says, and I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou artest strange. All the land of Canaan, for an everlasting position, and I will be their God.

So God had made a promise to Abraham that he’s going to justify the heathen by faith alone. Because he says, and through thee all families of the earth will be blessed, to be justified by faith alone. So he then he makes this statement in verse 1. 9. Now get what he said because otherwise you won’t understand it. You’ll hear the phrase and the terminology, but you won’t get the purpose of it because you have to remember in the New Testament the book of Romans in chapter 4 when he pays the statement in verse 11 that the circumcision is a key to understanding the gospel in the Old Testament and what it was a sign of.

So he says in verse 9, And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant, therefore thou and thy seed after thee in their generation, this is my covenant which shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee. Every man child among you shall be circumcised, and ye shall circumside the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. It was between you, Abraham, and God. It was a sign of something.

You see, when Abraham believed God, his righteousness, God’s righteousness was put to Abraham’s account. And he was to be circumcised as a cutting away of the flesh, which was a sign of no confidence in the flesh. It means that Abraham put no confidence in the flesh, in him, in a man’s works for salvation. that he was justified by faith and faith alone is how he was justified and circumcision was a sign of the seal of the righteousness he already had before he got circumcised.

So being circumcised was not what saved him. There was no confidence in the circumcision. It was only a picture of something. that was only a sign of something. So every Jewish man who circumcises Jewish little son was because of the faith of Abraham. Abraham was justified by faith alone and they were to circumcise of their sons because of the seal. It was to teach a whole nation that you’re justified by faith without your works. That is simply by trusting Christ and Him alone as your only hope and to have no confidence in the flesh because that is what circumcision was a sign of.

Abraham had no son for all those years that God promised him he was going to have one. From the the time he was 75. Until the time he was 99, no kids. Oh, he had one by Ishmael, I mean Ishmael, who was by Hagar, an Egyptian bond slave, but not his son. That was the promised son. And now he’s 99 years old. And now because he’s 99 years old, he got circumcised within a year Isaac was born. So God made the promise to Abraham when he was not circumcised and yet it wasn’t fulfilled until later.

So Isaac was born after Abraham was circumcised. So that’s why you find when did God make this promise to Abraham when he was circumcised or before? It was before. Why? So that Jews and Gentiles all understand that everybody said exactly the same way and that Abraham can be the father of all of those that believe whether you’re a Gentile and never been or you’re a Jew and you have been but it was a sign that you understood Abraham was justified by faith.

Now wouldn’t it have been neat and great and maybe they did. Every father explained to their children as they grew up what circumcision was about. That Abraham our father did not put any confidence in the flesh and he simply believed on the Lord about Jesus Christ and he was justified by faith and it was a sign of the covenant between God and Abraham. Say you’re making all that up. No, no, I’m not. No, it’s all here. And he says in verse 11, and you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, so shall it be a token of the covenant between mix and you.

And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you every man shall in your generation. That is to be born in your house and blah, blah, blah, all the way down through here. Now look over there in verse 20. He said, and as for Ishmael I have heard thee, behold I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. 12 princes shall he beget, and now we’ll make of him a great nation. Now this is talking about Ishmael, and there’s where the opposition came.

Every one of us have within us. If you have not trusted Christ as your Savior, you have like a little Arab Terrace lives inside you. I can put your whole sermon on that. But when you trusted Christ as your Savior, it’s like having a little Jew inside of you. Now what’s they’ve two going to do? They’ve been fighting for 4,000 years. And if you’ll watch the news, you’ll find out that it won’t be long. Something has got to explode in the Middle East.

And you can see it coming. The United Nations are even sympathetic toward the Palestinian statehood. And you watch. Isn’t it something that God said this will happen in the last days? They started off fighting and they’ve been fighting ever since. And it ain’t over yet. I could get sidetracked till you know that. But I’m not. I’m fighting the urge. So he says here in verse 23, And Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day as God had said unto him.

And Abraham was 90 years old and nine when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Isaac was born after this, not before this. So that Isaac was like a miracle child born by faith in what God said because he had no confidence in the flesh. And this was a sign of the seal of righteousness that God had given to Abraham before he was ever circumcised. But that was the teaching and the lesson of why it was done, so that everybody in the whole nation would know how Father Abraham got to be Father Abraham, and how he got to have eternal life and know that he was gonna be in heaven someday.

All this is mentioned. So in verse 25, Ishmael, his son was 13Advertisement when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, and then you find out, yes, Isaac was born. Now, go back to the book of Romans in chapter 4. Romans chapter 4, and look at verse 9. So we know that Abraham found something, and we’re talking here in the New Testament about what he found. Well, if he found it back then that a man was saved by grace, But don’t you think he ever told anybody?

What do you think all this is about? That’s the purpose of it. So he says in the book of Romans in chapter four, and verse nine, come of this blessing, this blessedness, then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision, also what blessing are they talking about? about. Look up there in verse 5. In verse 5 says, but do him that work if not, but believe it on him that justify if the ungodly his faith is kind of for righteousness.

That’s a pretty good blessing isn’t it? When I found out that I could not save myself I trusted Christ as my Savior and God gave me eternal life. I became a child of God. I’m going to heaven whenever I die. That’s a pretty good blessing. I have been blessed. That is the blessing of Abraham. And so because of that, come of this blessedness of been justified by faith and have an eternal life and know that you can go to heaven.

Is that just for the Jew or is it also for the Gentile? Well, that’s why he mentions it here. verse six, even as David also described the blessedness of the man and get this, unto whom God, and this is in the Old Testament. This is in the book of Psalm. He said, imputed righteousness without what? Works. That’s salvation by grace. Is it taught in your Old Testament? Salvation’s by grace. Without works. David said that. Abraham knew that. Moses knew that.

There was never any other way. But the Bible says it was like there was a veil over their eyes and they could not see. Their unbelief blinds them and they can’t see the Scriptures. But when you trust Christ as your Savior’s like a little light comes on. Mm. Did you see that little light bulb up above my head there? See? And all of a sudden, I… I see it, I see it. And all of a sudden, this isn’t two books, this is one book.

And he makes a statement in verse seven, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. I do something wrong. People say, well, you ought to go to hell for it. Yeah, but I’m not gonna go. Why? Because it’s not put to my account. It was put to his account. Christ died for me. He died to pay for all of my sins. So whenever I sin, it’s not put to my God, put to his account.

You said, that’s not fair. I know it. That’s by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourself. It is the gift of God. Have no confidence in your ability to save yourself. Because going to heaven is not something God gives to you because you earned the right to go there. It’s not because you were good and you went to church and you gave money and you did all that. Don’t you dare trust those things. it will not save you.

Old Testament teaches it, New Testament teaches it. And then he makes this statement in verse nine. Come at this blessing, it’s then upon the circumcision, only or upon this uncircumcision also. For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. Says it again. In verse 10, how was it then reckoned when he was in circumcision or an uncircumcision, not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. He was justified by faith and given his righteousness from God to him before he was ever circumcised.

So circumcision didn’t save him. And this is why Paul says, I’ve been circumcised the eighth day. But he put no confidence in him. And then book of Galatians in chapter 5, he says, to you that are circumcised, Christ become no prophet unto you. If you’re trusting in your circumcision, they get you to heaven. That means you’re trusting in flesh to get you to heaven, something that you have done or has done to you. You’re trusting in something other than Christ and he’s no prophet to you.

So the scriptures are teaching, don’t you be caught trusting in your works of righteousness. What else? He says, in verse 11, and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet been uncircumcised. So it means that he was justified before he was circumcised and was still righteous. He was justified. And get this, that he might be the father of all them that keep the Ten Commandments and obey the Golden Room.

All of them And then what was it saved? Believe. Jew, Gentile, it doesn’t matter. Everybody is saved the same way. You’re not going to get to heaven any differently than what I will. I’m going to go to heaven the same way everybody goes to heaven. Nobody goes to heaven two or three different ways. There’s only one way to heaven. It’s Christ alone. So when you trust Christ as your only hope of going to heaven, God says He saves you and He gives you eternal life and you get to go over to heaven on what He did for you.

You don’t earn it, you don’t work for it. It’s a gift, it’s free. Look what else He says. That believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed unto them, what’s the word also? So whether you circumcised or not, Jew or Gentile, everybody saved the same way. But it was taught through the Old Testament circumcision. It was a sign that salvation is by grace and grace alone and not of the flesh. That’s good. Looking for quote. And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision, circumcision, Jews, second gen down, but who also walk in the steps of that faith.

In other words, that faith, what Abraham had, what Abraham believed is how everybody is saved. And that’s why he made the statement here in verse 13. For the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law. Why? Because the law wasn’t given for 430 years. It was given to Moses. Abraham’s been long dead before that. But he makes a statement. But through the righteousness of faith, the promise.

And God made the promise to Abraham and the promise was given before the law was given. I showed that in Sunday school on my chart, but anyway. Verse 14, for if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void. The promise made of none effect. In other words, if you can earn your way to heaven, then you don’t need grace. Then you can’t be by faith. You can’t be that you’re trusting Christ to take it to heaven if you’re trusting your works to get you to heaven.

You can’t trust both of them. It’s either Christ or you. Are you able to take yourself to heaven without Him? No, you can’t. Can’t even come close. Don’t even qualify. But look what else he says in verse 15, because the law worketh wrath. Where no law is no transgression. So the law was added to let us know that we cannot save ourselves by our works because the Bible says you have to be perfect to go to heaven and the law shows you that you’re a sinner.

You’re a transgressor. You’ve overstepped the boundary. You’re not perfect. You’re not holy like God is. Now look in verse 16. Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace. And all this is talking about the Old Testament. This is how they were saved. See, it’s not a new gospel now, a new way of getting to heaven. This is how they were saved. This is how Abraham was saved. This is how David was saved. Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end.

The promise might be sure to all the seed. It’s the only way to guarantee eternal life is that it’s free. If it’s by works, it can’t be secure. It can’t be sure. See, that’s why once you trust Christ as Savior, God gives you eternal life. You are either eternally secure or you’re not secure. And if you’re not secure, you’re not saved. Well, see, eternal security is the good news. That’s what makes it the gospel. It’s good news to be justified by faith.

Best news in all the world. Look up here, letting this hand represent you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. Now God says that He loves us. Now He hates our sin, but He loves us. And God says that the wages of sin is death, since we’ve all sinned, well, we’re all condemned and we’re all going to die. So God says that to go to heaven, we have to be perfect as righteous as God, and none of us are perfect.

None of us are righteous. We’ve all sinned and come short of God’s perfection. See, God is perfect. You and I, we’ve come short of God’s perfection. None of us are good enough. So the Bible says you cannot save yourself. It’s not by your works. Have no confidence in the flesh. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us. He hates our sin because it separates us from Him.

So Jesus Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die. But because He loves us and He hates our sin because it separates us, He took the sin so that I don’t have to pay for them. He’ll pay for them, come back from the dead, and say, if I would believe He did it for me, He would put this death payment He made to my account. By my faith in what He did for me, I would be given His righteousness.

I will be justified just as if I had never sinned. Why? He paid for them all. I don’t have any sin to pay for them. I don’t have to go to hell and pay for any sin. Why? Because He died for me. substitution and you don’t deserve it. That’s why it’s called grace, for by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. I’m going to heaven not because of any good work that I’ve done.

But only because Jesus Christ, He died for my sins. Came back from the dead and I believe that He did it for me. And if you will believe He did it for you, God will save you and give you the free gift of everlasting life. And you’ve heard John 3, 16, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him. should not perish. It means you won’t go to hell. But have everlasting life.

We go to heaven on what Christ did for. For God hath made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Can’t beat that. Why in the world would I want to try to earn my way to heaven when he did all of that for me? You say you have to set his grace aside and put your works in its place. Now which one do you think you’re gonna win with?

Will you rather have salvation by works or salvation by grace? There’s only one. Your works won’t do. Have no confidence in the flesh. Let’s pray, shall we? With every head bobbing, every eye closing, no one looking around, I’m not going to have you forward or embarrass you, but right where you’re sitting. If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, today would be a good day to do that. I’m not going to have you forward, not going to embarrass you.

But right where you’re sitting, if it makes sense to you, just talk to the Lord so you don’t make a mistake this way. Only the Lord knows what you’re saying. And say, Lord, I know I’m a sinner. And I don’t understand it all because, friend, everybody got questions and doubts. But Lord, the best I know how. I know I’m a sinner. I believe you died and paid for my sins. And I’m going to trust you right now as my only hope of going to heaven.

Friend, God said, if you would believe it, you would have it. Would you believe it? Would you believe he paid for your sins and will you trust him to take you to heaven when you die? Friend, that’s all that you can do. It’s the only thing you can do. There is no other way. And if you will trust Christ as your Savior, I’d like to know it. I’d like to have prayer for you. So I do it with heads by nice clothes.

And so in just a moment, I’m going to ask for raise your hand. Raising your hand doesn’t save you. Just lets me know that what I said made sense. And that I’d like to have prayer for you in closing. So is there anyone that will say, yes, that made sense to me this morning? And right now I will trust Christ as my Savior. And preach how I want you to pray for me. And just slip you in it very quickly and put it right back down.

Yes, God bless you. Anyone else? Just slip it up real quick and put it right back down. Are there others? Our Father, we thank You so much for the individual that indicated by an uplift at hand that they would trust You as Savior. By doing so they become Your child born into Your family. You said You’d never cast Him out, never lose Him. We’re thankful Father for the opportunity we have to preach Your Word. We know there’s people that watch by internet and we pray Lord that if there’s any that have never trust you, save you that they would, we’re thankful for the ministry you’ve given us.

Thank you for each family that’s represented here in this church, for the good people that works so hard and give to make it possible. We know that one day it’ll all be over and we’ll have to give an account to you what we did. We thank you for your blessings in Christ name, 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 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.