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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 a part of the Bible. you 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 want to talk to you about something that is maybe a follow-up of last Sunday. Last Sunday was a message on what is the gospel. And today I want to tell you what is my gospel. It’s good to have a good message. But you know, not only want to have a good message, I want to have the best message. I would hate to think that I have lived for 50 years after I trusted Christ as my Savior and preached a message, but it wasn’t the best message.

I would hate to think that there’s another gospel out there somewhere that’s better than the one that I’ve been preaching. I have never in 50 years had to apologize for the gospel that I preach. I believe that it is the gospel, and I don’t believe there is a message better than the one that we have. I am also thankful, very thankful that I have the privilege of following in the steps of a man like Dr. Hank Lindstrom who knew the gospel and believed the same gospel.

And so we have the same gospel. So I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Romans in chapter 2. The book of Romans and chapter 2. Here in the book of Romans in chapter 2, I want you to see there in verse 11. Verse 11 down to verse 16 where he says, for there is no respect to persons with God, for as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law. So the Bible says there’s those that are going to perish.

It means that they’re not going to heaven. It means when never Christ says, for God so loved the world that He gave His only be God and Son to whosoever, believe it in Him, should not perish. But there’s a lot of people who do not believe in Him, and they will perish. They will actually be in a literal fire burn and hail for all eternity and they will have no salvation. This is why God says for us who do care to share the gospel, to preach the gospel.

And He makes the statement here in the verse 13 for not the hears of the law or just before God. How many times have you heard somebody say, well I’ve read the Bible, I’ve read the Bible through and through, I know all about the Bible, but just because you don’t mean you understand it. And you’d be surprised how many people, even preachers, that do not understand the truth of the gospel. The Apostle Paul made the statement in the book of Galatians in chapter 2.

He says that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. You see, we defend it because if we don’t defend it against any works whatsoever, One work destroys grace. One work, then it’s no longer grace. So the test of the gospel is it by grace. And he says here in verse 14, for when the Gentiles which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these have a not the law or a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts, the means while accusing, for excusing one another.

In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, and you ought to underline the last phrase, according to my gospel, there is no respect to persons with God. And did they or did they not trust Christ as their Savior? Not to do so. There’s a great penalty, great price to pay for not trusting the Lord. Now I want you to look there in your notes that I gave to you. There can only be two options concerning salvation.

One, you can be saved and lose it. or you can be saved and not lose it. Don’t that make sense? You can either be saved and lose it, or you can be saved and not lose it. It’s got to be one way or the other. It cannot be both ways. It can’t be both ways. It’s impossible. When I trusted Christ as my Savior 50 years ago, then I have either done things that would cause me to lose my salvation and then had to get saved again, or I was saved forever that day.

I trusted Christ as my Savior. It cannot be both ways. There are only ways that I can say at this point in my life that I know that I’m going to heaven whenever I die, whether it’s today or tomorrow or whenever, is that it’s free. But if it’s not free and I have to earn it by some performance of mine, then I can’t be sure I’m going because I’m not sure how I’m going to perform. And that would be true with any preacher, any person, in any church.

If they’re eventually going to heaven depends upon their performance, how they live, then their salvation depends upon their works. That means they can’t be sure how they’re going to perform because they’d have to be God to know the end from the beginning. But what if God from the beginning is already declared not by works of righteousness which we have done? Now that blows most people right out of the saddle. But people are not really listening. They have ears to hear, but they don’t hear it.

They have eyes to see, but they don’t see it. And they can be so close for so many years of their life and still not get it. They can’t believe that God will love them that much, that He will give them eternal life without any promises of how going to live. Now I want you to think about this. If I can be saved and lose it, all right, how can I lose it? What would I have to do to lose it?

And if I lost it, what I know when I lost it? See this is one of the problems that most people have when they think you can be saved today and then lose it tomorrow, is they never know for sure when they lost it. Because they don’t really know what sin cost them. salvation or how many of their sins cost them their salvation. So that’s why most people say, well I hope I’m going to heaven. I hope but they don’t really know.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could know positively, be not in the shadow of a doubt that you’re going to heaven whenever you die? That’s good news. If a man could lose his salvation because of some particular sin, well I’ve always been on the impression that when Christ died, they only had to die one time for all the sin of the whole world. Well, if He died and paid for all the sins of the world, what sin didn’t He pay for?

It paid for all my sins. Only thing I had to do was believe He did it for me and He would put that payment He made to my account and I get to go to heaven. So that means it would have to be a sin that Christ didn’t pay for in order to condemn me. But if it’s paid, why would I have to go to hell and pay for the sin if it’s already paid? And I believe he did it for me.

So there is no story in the Bible. There is no verse in the Bible that says a man can be saved and lose it. The other point made here is you can be saved and not lose it. Well, I believe and I showed you this last week that when When you trusted Christ as your Savior, God said, not Yankee, not the preacher, God says, I will in no wise cast you out unless you sin again. No, He didn’t say that.

But that’s what people add to it. Or, you know, you can’t tell me that all you can do is trust Christ’s Savior and you’ll go to heaven when you die. Why can’t I tell you that if God said that? If God said that, is that good enough? The Lord said, the boy was not good. Is it you can’t believe God? People just can’t believe Him. Because, you see, we thank God thinks the way we think. And in His Word, He says, your thoughts are not my thoughts.

Your ways are not my ways. We honestly, in what most people, I would say, believe that you ought to deserve to go to heaven, and that all those bad people, well, they deserve to go to hell. But God says, there are no good people that we’re all bad. We’ve all sinned. We’ve all come short of God’s perfection. So nobody has ever been able to save themselves or keep themselves saved. How can I keep myself saved? I wasn’t good enough to save myself from my sin.

So how was my good life going to keep me from committing some sins? You mean I can’t commit one? If I do, now I go to hell. There is no chapter and verse in the Bible that says it. So it can’t be both ways. Look at number one during your notes. The means of salvation. How is a man saved? You remember last week I took my coat on and I put my coat on. I took my coat on and I took my coat off.

Showing you that you’re either saved by grace or you’re saved by works. But you can’t be saved by both. Because he says, if it is by grace, then it can’t be by works. Otherwise grace isn’t grace. But if it is by your work, then it can’t be by grace. Otherwise work isn’t work. It’s got to be either by grace or by work. Have you ever heard of a verse that says for by grace? Are you saved? That not itself?

It is the gift of God. Not of work. Not of works. not. See, God has spoken, but people can’t believe that. They still believe that you still got to do good works to eventually make it. Not true. So he says, if it is by grace, it must be totally by grace. Totally. Not just that he saved me today. Now I got to earn it for the rest of my life. No, being saved for all my life is by grace.

I don’t work to do anything to save myself by any performance that I do. Now in our mind we think, well, that’s the way to ought to be, but not in God’s word. God is the architect. He is the designer of the plan of salvation and this is what God said. If it cannot be both ways then which way is it? It is by grace and grace alone. Grace means you do not deserve it and this is what’s hard for people to understand.

For example, do I have to go to church to go to heaven? No. Do I have to give money to go to heaven? No. Do I have to be water back ties to go to heaven? No. Do I have to keep the 10 commandments to go to heaven? No. Well then how do I get there? Christ died for me. Christ died for me. He paid my way. And all I had to do was believe He did it for me.

It is so simple that people can’t believe it. And yet that’s all they have to do. And it doesn’t matter how sincere a person may be. you’re still going to be lost. You’ll still be separated from God. I know it sometimes is hard for us to believe that God would literally do this. Let a person spend an eternity separated from God, inhale and never get out. And sometimes we think, well, maybe down the road, you know, after a little ways, God will just, hey, just to get all of it.

Let’s just all go into heaven. But that ain’t what he said. That’s not what he said. He that believeth on the hat everlasting life. He that believeth not. So that’s not the same. The wrath of God abides upon him. Forever. Doesn’t say temporarily. That is forever. Look at number two. The duration of salvation. How long is it supposed to last? Well what is he going to give me? If I do trust Christ as my Savior, what will He give me?

If I trust He Christ as my Savior 50 years ago, what did He give me? He that believeth on me half? Ever lasting life. How long would that last? Forever. If He gives me everlasting life, evidently that’s how long I’ll be saved for. Forever. Why would he give me everlasting life if it doesn’t last forever? He should just give me temporary life, you know, guaranteed for maybe at 24 hours, or maybe maybe a week. He that believed told me half life for a month.

But if he just said what it was, then I know how long I’d be saved for. Don’t you think that would have been fair for God to do for us? But he didn’t even say a year. He just put that word in there forever. You either believe it on me, is saved forever. I’ve never lost in life. It’s not to say forever, forever. You say, you don’t deserve to be saved. I don’t deserve to be saved for a minute.

I don’t deserve to be saved for a day. I didn’t deserve to be saved for a month. I don’t deserve to be saved for a year, let alone forever. But what if God really meant what He said? What if He really meant that? It means that every preacher who teaches the other is wrong. They’re wrong. And there’s a lot of them that are preaching just that kind of a message. Here in your notes, I had fun doing this. Confidence in eternal security.

Consider the following questions, which would be the best news. Here’s the question. See if you can pass the test. Is it best to think, hope, guess, or know that you have eternal life? Which would be the best answer? Boy, y’all are brainwashed. It’s best to know. Well, but does the Bible say that? Where does the Bible say that you can know that you have eternal life? I’m so glad you know where it’s found. Where’s it found? 1 John 5, 13.

Look over there. I want you to see this verse. I did not put this in the Bible, but I was 18 years old when I saw it for the first time. Remember I wasn’t raised in church, but when my father-in-law showed me this verse, man, it didn’t take long before I got big old swollen tears in my eyes. I just, it’s so hard to believe that you can know your happy turnal and know that you’re going to heaven. And nobody says in verse 13, these things have I written unto you that keep the 10 commandments and go to Calvary Community Church and pays 50%.

It says, these things have I written unto you that what? Believe. Believe on the name of the Son of God that you, who, those that believe, you may know that you have eternal life. Not everybody. Those that believe can know this. Know what? Know that you have what kind of life? Eternal life. So I can know I have eternal. Now look what he says in verse 10. Verse 10, he says, He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself.

He that believeth not God, hath made him a liar. Not to believe what God says is to call God a liar. He said that if I trusted him, he would save me. For how long? He’s going to give me everlasting life must be forever. And if it’s forever, not to believe that is to call God a liar.

You said, well, you can’t tell, maybe I can’t. Can God, what a person listen to what God says? He said, if you don’t believe what I’m telling you, you’re calling me alive. Look what else he says here. In verse 11, this is the record that God hath given, past tense, not going to, hath given to us, that believe eternal life. And this life is where in the sun. It’s not in the church, it’s not in the Ten Commandments. It’s in Christ.

He that hath the Son, half life. He that hath not the Son of God, half not life. So who has eternal life? Those who have the Son. Not who that has good works. I got my baptism, I’m trusting in it. I got my church membership, I’m trusting in. Well, that can’t save you. You’re trusting in something. Well, work won’t work. Salvation is in Christ. It’s in a person. Look down in verse 20. And we know that the Son of God has come and have given us an understanding.

So not everybody understands it. That we may know Him that is true and we are in Him that is true even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. So he that hath the son hath eternal life. Eternal life is the son. Eternal life is Christ. When you have Christ, you have eternal life. And the only way that I could ever go to hell is for Jesus Christ to go with me. I don’t think he’s going.

And he says that he’ll never leave me and never forsake me. Wherever he is, it’s where I’m going to be. And I don’t care where he is. I’m gonna be with him Because he’ll never forsake me That’s a promise in his word. I Either believe what he says or I don’t believe it and if I do believe it then that’s what I ought to preach What is my gospel that I preach? I? Don’t believe that it’s just a good message.

I believe it’s the best message In other words, I don’t believe there is a message better than this message We don’t have to apologize for this message We don’t have to be ashamed of this message. We ought to be able to stand up against anybody. Radio, TV, I don’t know who they are. Anybody. And say, this is the gospel. This is the message that I believe in what I preach. And I don’t apologize for it. This is the truth.

I do believe that I am eternally secure. There is no other way of knowing that you’re going to heaven. So is it better to think the hope, the guess, maybe, perhaps, or know that I have eternal life, to know that I’m going to have a look at the next question. Is it better to have a payment for some of my sins, most of my sins, or all of my sins? Which would be the best? All of my sins. Well, slap my mouth.

That’s what I believe. So then overdoses, and they say, I must believe the best message. Well, of course I do. We teach the best message, the gospel. That is, so one of all, I want you to look at this verse. Look here in the book of Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13, verse 38 and 39. 38 and 39. And just look and see what it says. Verse 38 says, this is on page 1167 1167 in an old Scofield reference Bible, we’re in the church Bible from the pew there.

Verse 38 says, be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, Jesus Christ, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Did you know forgiveness of sins is for all my sins? And to be forgiven of all my sins is eternal security. Do you be forgiven of all of my sins? can’t hold them against me. What sin going to condemn me? Hell, if they’re all forgiven, all my sins. See, the penalty of my sins have been forgiven.

And he says here in this verse 39, and by him Christ, by him, get this, all that believe. Now, there’s some people that will believe it, some people will not believe it, they’ll never believe it. All that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. You could never keep the law of Moses and be justified. You’ll never live perfect enough to say, I’ve kept the law, I deserve to be saved and deserve to go to heaven because I have lived such a good life.

There has never been such a person in this world, man or woman. Now we’re excluding Jesus Christ. Everybody else, nobody has ever lived good enough to save themselves. Not one. That’s why Christ died for all. And just so that you know this, Mary who gave birth to Jesus says, I will rejoice in God my Savior. If she was not a sinner, she would not need a Savior. Think it through. He is the Savior of the world and everybody needs a Savior.

I just heard recently that they’re talking about trying to make somebody a saint. It’s been in the papers. Front page. And they’re just trying to find a miracle that somebody did that can claim and say, yes, he did perform a miracle. And so one person testified, I was healed because of it, and therefore they have the right to be a saint. Now let me just explain this to you. I am a saint and I don’t need your vote. I don’t require your vote.

You see how come you get to be a saint? I’m not a saint Bernard. I’m a saint. I’m a saint because I have been made pure and holy and set apart by the payment Christ made on the cross for me. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, You are a saint. That’s why the Bible says to the saints that are at Rome, to the saints that are at Corinth. And yet these saints weren’t living like saints. But because Christ paid for their sins, they were sanctified.

The word hagiazu in the Greek set apart, been made pure and holy. And that’s why we call this sometimes a sanctuary. your body is to be sanctified because you are a saint. So I don’t have to worry about, did I perform any miracles? Is there anything that I’ve done that now everybody gonna vote on me being a saint? Three or four hundred years after I’m dead. Who cares? Who cares what people think about you? We’re gonna make, Jay, we’re gonna make Jay a saint.

And let’s say Jay’s been dead for a hundred years. Do you think he really cares? And what do we bestow? What did we do for him? Nothing. It’s a joke. That’s religion. It’s not the Bible. It’s religion. That’s where man says, he was so good. We got to bestow him some special honor. And yet in God’s eyes, if he’d never trusted Christ’s Savior, who Rabbi J goes to hell. But the only reason he’ll get to go to heaven is that he trusts Christ’s Savior.

Have you trusted the Lord yet, Jay? Oh, goodness, that’s great. I hate to hear him the teacher. Bible lesson and read our scriptures for us every Sunday. And it doesn’t even know the Lord. But it says that you’re justified by faith and faith alone from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. People don’t believe the scripture. And look at the letter C. Is it better to be saved for a day, a month, a year, or forever?

Well, forever. See, wouldn’t that be better? I mean, if God can save me for a day. Oh, why can’t God just go ahead and save me forever? What be… What’s the difference? If he can’t say me no longer than a day or a week, then I don’t need it. I don’t need it. But now if it’s forever, now that’s where crossing the ocean for. That’s where missioners going to here and there and around the square telling people how to have something because he got something.

To go into all the world and tell people, you gotta be good. Is that good news or bad news? To tell people to be good, to go to heaven is bad. It causes people to think, I can maybe live up to being good enough to make it. And so they go to church and they do all these good things and give some money, trying to earn their way to heaven. And God’s already said, it’s free. It’s free. And people just can’t believe that.

You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part two of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. 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 Bible and 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.